The Beast's Roar
by Tracyn Skirata Freski
Summary: When Loki vanishes seconds after the Avengers corner him after the battle of New York, everyone expects the worst. No one considered the impact a well meaning family of mutants would have on a fellow monster - Or the impact he would have on them.
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE

Everything hurt. The damage the green beast had done was likely severe, and Loki's skull pounded horridly. He could barely focus – he had used up almost all of his barely functioning magic in the battle, and he could feel the sputtering remains working valiantly to keep him conscious.

He was confused – utterly and completely befuddled. Somewhere in the back of his mind, some angry voice was telling him to _get up, fight back, take what was rightfully his_ and under that _weak worthless runt disgraced monster can't even conquer properly._ He twitched, instinctively reaching for the well of his seidr to fight back, but then stopped. No one in his right mind would think he had any chance of winning in this situation, not with his magic so low, his body uncooperative and his thinking muddled.

Anxious to hide his conflicting thoughts _weakness failure_ , he glanced up at the Avengers from his place crouched on the edge of the pit he had been laying in.

"I think I'll have that drink now." he smirked, letting a bit of that small voice, now urging him to kill them all _tear out their hearts for this indignity make them pay_ , bleed through his tone.

His archer, Barton, drew back his bow, and Loki prepared himself for –

The green beast roared, and for a second it's great bulk looked purple.

An ugly, putrid purple, surrounded by masked shadows, the sick smell of decay and a voice that promised things worse than pain. Loki flinched violently, his back spasming.

Before disgust at his weakness could even take root in his mind, his magic acted in instinctual self preservation. Loki's eyes rolled back in his head an instant before his body shrouded itself in green and he vanished without a trace.

Tony Stark stared at the crater where Thor's crazy brother had just been sitting. Someone was going to have to tell Fury what had happened, and the pirate was not going to be happy.

"Not it!" he called, pressing one armored finger to his nose. It sure wasn't going to be him.


	2. Chapter 1

***Disclaimer* I am only going to say this once.**

 **I own nothing but the idea and my made up characters. Everything marvel is, obviously, Marvels. I make nothing for doing this except less free time.**

 **Enjoy!**

CHAPTER 1

The burst of magic, although enough to completely drain Loki's reserves, wasn't enough to get him far – and it certainly didn't aim.

Loki was jolted into painful awareness when he hit the side of a building. He felt a rib or three crack, and fell off the side before he could even get a grip on reality.

The ground wasn't much better, although the thick bank of snow he landed in did help a great deal in softening his fall. Even then, the impact jarred his already sore body. He groaned, attempting to push himself off the ground and failing as his arms would not hold his weight and his vision tunneled. He was dangerously close to blacking out again. Loki took a moment to get the stampede in his head under control and tried again. He fared little better the second time, although he managed to sit up enough to lean into the snow covered wall behind him.

His stomach growled, long and insistent. Loki glared at it. He had had little time to eat during his little sojourn to Midgard, even with the archer pressing him to do so. It wasn't healthy, he knew, but he had been on a strict time limit. He had had to get the Tesseract to the Chitauri before they became impatient.

Now Thor was here, and that oaf would take the cube back to Asgard.

He had failed.

So much for his dreams of being supreme leader of this backwater little planet. He couldn't even take one of it's stupid little cities properly – even if… even if… Now that he thought about it, he had gone about his conquering in entirely the wrong way. From the moment he had landed in SHIELD's base he had tried to draw the hero's of the earth together – to unite them, not to destroy them – even as he worked to frighten the world into submission and let the Chitauri through the portal.

Why would he be trying to sabotage his own mission? He had had an army, the mind gem, and all the intelligence he needed. For that matter, why was he so intent on conquering earth anyway?

 _Worthless crazy insane failure of a war-prize_ the voice crowed, but the racket in his head drowned it out enough that it could easily be ignored.

Something was wrong, and he couldn't figure out what.

He had wanted to die, when he was thrown off the bridge. As he dropped into the void it had crushed him and pulled him apart, all at the same time. His sanity, his thoughts, and his emotions all started to slip through the cracks and time ran together and lasted an eternity until he fell and landed – somewhere.

Somewhere that made his wrists ache and his stomach feel queasy just thinking about it.

Loki shuddered violently, blinking snow out of his eyelashes. He must have spaced out, because it was dark and it had begun to snow again. Wind howled above him, and he debated whether or not he should stay in his little sheltered pit until sunrise. The armor he was wearing was not suited for cold weather, and his magic had been drained to less than a trickle. It would take time to heal the gaping wound from its over use.

He should have known better. Every seidmadr knew there was a high chance of death in even coming close to running out of seidr. The voice couldn't help but take the opportunity. _Idot_ _useless ergi no one will accept you destroy them_

Again, the pounding of his head drowned it out, and the voice tried harder. _Don't let anyone see weakness runt shameful reject_ _U_ _P_ _FILTH YOU MUST_ _BURN THEM._

Shakily, Loki stumbled to his feet, leaning against the wall and trying to suppress a racking cough. His ribs were screaming, although in less agony than they should have been – and with a sinking feeling Loki realized he could not feel the cold. He had probably already become numb to it.

The moon's rays glinted off of the snow around him in a dazzling shower of color. Snowbanks positively shimmered a rainbow of silvers, and each snowflake that fell seemed to spin dizzily as it drifted to the ground. It was beautiful, even in the dark alley he had landed in. Loki did not think he had ever seen snow so magnificent.

Stepping out of the alley, he began to walk. Even if he wasn't cold, he needed to find somewhere he could stay and replenish his magic. He listened to the small sounds of animal life around him as he walked, unsure of where to find lodging in a mortal town. For a second he entertained the idea of setting up base here and trying again _Burn them destroy them make them yours to play with_ but quickly dismissed it in disgust. What was he thinking – he could barely stay upright as it was. He had no idea where on the mortal world he was, and had no seidr, no allies, no place to recover.

Trying to fight now would be a death sentence. _Not like that would be a problem._ He stopped for a moment, considering that option, but ultimately rejected it. Not now, finally away from… again, his thoughts stuttered to a halt and Loki shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs out of his head. He regretted it immediately, nearly tipping over right in the middle of the street. He really needed to stop spacing out like that. Anything could happen, in the short memory lapse.

Right. The street. He needed to be out of the town by daylight, so he could figure out where he was without being noticed.

He kept walking.

Several minutes later he realized that the streets around him had gone silent. Not quiet, but totally silent – as if the small creatures awake at night knew there was an apex predator about. An apex predator that most certainly wasn't him.

Slipping a knife out of one boot, Loki glanced around him once and slipped into a side alley. He saw no one, but he was almost positive he could hear the crunch of boot on snow somewhere. Loki paused in the middle of the alley, and waited for a second. Sure enough, after a moment his neck tingled and Loki whirled around, knife glinting in the dim light provided by a barely functioning streetlamp.

A few feet away from him was a man. He was dressed in almost entirely black – black combat boots, black cargo pants, black coat buttoned over a spotless white shirt and black tie.

It was altogether very strange clothing for someone in the middle of an alley past midnight.

Then the man smiled, and Loki knew that whatever this thing was, it wasn't natural.

The smile… well, it was more of a smirk than a smile, and it reminded Loki of his own, slightly maniacal grin. It was the fangs, though, that made him nervous. They were not overly long, but there was still a faint shading of red along the side of one pointed tooth.

The creatures eyes were completely black.

"Give me one good reason why you are here, and I might let you live. No one good lurks around here after dark."

Loki blinked. That was not what he had been expecting, at all. Honestly, he hadn't been expecting any intelligent words. Maybe Midgard was more interesting than he had thought.

 _Allies._ The voice hissed, _Allies to burn humanity with. Unnatural creatures – even a worthless whelp like you shouldn't find it hard to win them over._

"Well? I'm not exactly a patient man." The creature took one predatory step forward, baring his fangs threateningly.

"I fell." Loki blurted, barely restraining himself from backing up. Even without his magic, he could feel the aura surrounding the figure and it screamed _danger_.

The creature's eyes narrowed.

"You a mutant?"

Apparently, his exploits weren't as well known as he thought. He drew himself up, drawing on his mental walls and letting his fear flow off of him like water off a duck. It had no place in this conversation.

He ignored the angry twinge in his knee.

"Mortals are beneath me." He sneered. The man just rolled his eyes.

"Sure they are. Now. Do you want food and shelter, or not. Cause Lillian would kill me if I left someone looking like you do out here to wander all night."

The change in topic startled him – he had been expecting a fight. And maybe have his throat ripped out and all his blood drained, if he did not prevail. The stray thought of _I wonder what drinking non-human blood would do_ was drowned out by _TRICKS LIES KILL THE_ _VAGRANT._

Loki's knife hand twitched, and his headache kicked up a notch. The being in front of him tilted his head slightly, watching him carefully. Loki wanted to kill. He wanted to filet anyone who came near him until the entire world cowered in fear.

Nevertheless, this human-creature was intriguing, and, even better, this would give him a place to stay as he recovered.

If it didn't rip his throat out after all. _Not that he would mind._ It seemed like such a messy way to die.

"I accept your offer." He bowed slightly, and winced as his ribs twinged in protest.

The man looked slightly disappointed, and Loki smirked. Maybe serving a god like him would teach him not to offer kindness to strangers. _Sentiment_. It was deplorable.

"Fine." The man shrugged. "I'm Samuel. It is most definitely not a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Loki nodded solemnly, although the words amused him. "I am called Lukas."

"Care to give me your knife?" The man, Samuel, looking it up and down appreciatively. Loki got the distinct impression that if he let the man touch it he would never see it again.

"Not especially."

"Fair enough. If you stab me I will haunt you forever." Samuel bared his teeth again in that lunatics smile and Loki suppressed another shiver. He didn't want to know if the man was telling the truth or not.

"You have my word I will not." Loki answered, feeling the oath settle upon him even without his magic. He could always kill the man another way, if need be. "Lead the way."

 _STUPID WORTHLESS_ the voice snarled, and Loki winced. Then, silent, and even more unnerving, _you will regret this._

Samuel spun on his heal and slipped quietly back the way he came, his feet making barely any noise even in the soft snow. Loki followed, letting his gaze drift around the frozen, silent town, cataloging what he saw and where the man was leading him.

"So." Samuel interrupted his thoughts. "Who are you running from?" Loki tensed. "I'm not saying I blame you, looking like that. I run from plenty of people."

"You?" Loki lifted one eyebrow at the man's back, surprised despite himself. "They do not run themselves?"

Samuel snorted. "Sure, they run. Then they come back in packs with silver knives, wooden stakes, and salt. It is rather annoying."

"What… exactly are you?"

"Technically a mutant. I like to call myself a high-functioning vampire. That's what most people think I am, anyway. You? 'Cause I may be wrong but I am fairly certain humans aren't… blue."

Loki froze.

Samuel turned around and looked at him curiously.

Dragging his gaze downward, his eyes caught the phosphoric blue of his skin and bile rose in his throat.

No wonder he didn't feel the cold. His _other_ skin was showing.

It was all a reminder of how little he was worth to his fa – to the All-Father.

He clenched his fists, willing the blueness away. Nothing happened. Loki swore under his breath and tried again – but without his magic, he could do nothing. He was stuck, in this monstrous form, in a hostile realm.

This time, the voice echoed his own thoughts. _Runt war-prize unloved unwanted unworthy_

"I am a refugee." He finally said, and with a pang he realized it was true. He didn't know his own motives for coming to this place and trying to conquer it – or why he did it in such an embarrassing fashion. He did know that Midgard, Asgard, and Jotunheim would likely want him dead – he needed a place to recover his strength and reorganize his mind.

It wasn't like he was going to have the strength to walk the world-tree any time soon.

"Fair enough." Samuel said, and turned back around. They walked in silence for a time, Loki musing over what all had happened to him. Finally, they turned into the drive way of a small, run down house. Samuel turned to him, black eyes narrowing and one pointed tooth slipping free of his lips.

"I want you to know that if you ever, _ever,_ hurt anyone in my family, I will personally track you to the ends of the universe and rip your throat out."

"I don't doubt it." Loki smirked, and he truly didn't. The creature's gaze was serious. Loki had no doubt if left alive Samuel would find a way.

"Don't be too loud." Samuel asked, pulling a key out of his pocket and unlocking the door. "The kids are asleep."

Loki balked. "You have children?" Samuel, although clearly acting as a mortal adult, didn't look _that_ old...

"No? I mean, they are kids, but technically they are more like my siblings? We adopted them."

It was amazing how the man could go from creepy and bloodthirsty to awkward and friendly – all in the space of a second.

"Adopted?" Loki wasn't really familiar with that term.

"Yeah. It wasn't entirely legal, seeing as my sister and I were both under eighteen at the time and we actually just used the Mandalorian adoption rituals to make it official – we are such geeks – but it works. We are family now, and our landlord doesn't ask questions. He is sketchy enough as it is, so it's not really a problem."

He knocked on the front door, calling through it. "Lilly, I'm back early and I brought a friend."

Loki snorted. He was probably the last person someone would consider a friend. Samuel raised an eyebrow at him, but was distracted by the door opening.

The girl standing in the doorway was tall, almost as tall as Samuel, but still noticeably shorter than Loki himself. He tilted his head up slightly, looking down at her. She didn't seem cowed, to her credit. Although that might have been his disheveled appearance.

She lifted an eyebrow and glanced at Samuel. He sighed.

"Yes, he is blue, yes, he looks like he came from the Renaissance fair, no he isn't a mutant."

She gave him an incredulous look.

"That's what he said. Something about us 'mortals' being beneath him."

There was a pause.

"That's my speculation." Samuel turned to look at Loki. "You an alien?"

Loki barely heard him, his thoughts in turmoil. Was the female in-front of him telepathic? He had not seen that in a mortal before. Truthfully, the two people in-front of him were the most intriguing mortals he had run into since the fall. Not that he had seen any, before the portal, when the… and then it was all fighting and no time to observe.

"Yeah, I think he is an alien. Never seen a blue one before. Looks kinda like an avatar. Less sparkly, though."

Samuel snapped in Loki's face, and he refocused. He had to have a concussion, if he was this out of it. That… was actually expected, given what his head had taken in the past few days, and the lack of proper sustenance.

"Okay, Mr. Alien-whose-name-is-probably-not-Lukas, we are going to let you in here because you look like you need some place to lay low – and if there is anyone who understands running, it's us. Do you understand?"

Loki gave a minute nod, realizing that if he tried to survive in this world alone, without full control of his magic, he was likely to be hunted down and killed. Sooner rather than later.

 _If only it were that simple_ was followed by _can't even die properly._

"Cool. Lukas, this is Lillian. Lillain, Lukas. She is going to say hello, please don't freak out."

 _"Nice to meet you."_ The voice was in his head, and everything went numb.

 _Pain._

 _Blood, sluggishly seeping from his nose and ears as he clawed at the inhibitor they had put on him, desperately trying to keep it out of his head._

 _Jagged rocks digging into his skin._

 _The crowd around him jeering as it tried to pry his mind from his body._

 _Snow in his face._

Wait.

 _Snow?_

Slowly sounds filtered back in.

"No more mind talk, okay? Promise. I can just translate for Lilly. I can't promise I will always say what – ow! Ow! Fine! – word for word, okay? See? Should I throw more snow at him?"

Loki coughed, wiping snow off his face and glaring spitefully at Samuel, who was crouching next to him. He clambered unsteadily to his feet, shaking off Samuel's concerned hand angrily.

... _Lies tricks aiming only to hurt what is the ulterior motive_ _find their weakness..._

"You good now? 'Cause that was like the definition of freaking out." Samuel asked, eyeing him curiously. Lillian stood behind him, looking apologetic. "Lilly said sorry. She didn't know it would have that reaction."

Too shaken from the flashback to do anything more than nod, Loki stumbled into the house behind Lillian. Samuel shut the door behind them. They entered a small kitchen area, with slightly rusted appliances and walls tainted by dirt and splotches of color. It was probably one of the worst establishments he had consented to stay in so far.

"We know it isn't much, but you can't have a whole lot when you are trying to stay off the governments radar."

Now that was interesting. Why would these individuals want to hide from their own rulers? Surely, as advanced as they seemed to be, they could be lauded as the heroes that had defeated him. It wouldn't be hard, in his weakened state.

"It is… adequate." He managed, sinking down on one of the benches. Lillian smirked, and Samuel laughed out-loud before flinching under Lillian's stern gaze.

"Sorry." He whispered, turning back to Loki and continuing in a softer voice. "You make it sound like that's a bad thing. Adequate is more than a lot of people have."

Lillian turned her gaze back on Loki, looking him up and down.

"She says you need to get that metal stuff off." Samuel translated. "Your clothing is soaked. I'm fairly certain we don't have anything your size lying around, but I'm sure Samuel can go get some sometime – wait, hey, I didn't agree to that!"

Loki raised an amused eyebrow. The two were definitely siblings. They reminded him of his arguments with Thor, before everything had gone to ruin. Back when they were still friends.

 _Except_ _they were never_ _friends, never_ _brothers._ _His entire life had been a lie. Had_ _Thor ever really accepted him?_ Flashes of memory ran through his head – jeering, laughing, Thor's friends making jokes _Ergi woman failure_ that cut and stung while his not-brother stood by, chuckling.

"How long do you intend to stay here?" Samuel asked, sitting down across the table.

"I… know not." Loki said after a moment. "I have expended a great deal of energy these days past, and I do not know how long it will take to recover."

"If you don't mind me asking, what do you do?" Samuel glanced at Lillian, then nodded. "How about this. You ask us a question, we answer you. We ask you something, you answer. You must answer truthfully, but you can refrain from answering if it is especially sensitive."

Loki thought about this. On one hand, this… game… would give him more information on these strange mortals. He desperately needed information. On the other hand, he would give up information of his own – if he deigned to tell the truth. He was sure he could craft a lie convincing enough to last a few days – especially if these humans were as out of touch with the world as they appeared – but he had no doubt they would discover the truth eventually. He had made a very obvious appearance, after all.

He thought that would gain him enough use of his magic to teleport somewhere else on earth, but he could not escape to the Pathways, which he would much rather do. Loki was about to give his answer when one of the doors leading to another room opened, and a small, dark skinned child appeared. She was clutching a well worn blue blanket around her shoulders, and her hair was meticulously braided back from her face. She glanced at Loki, then at Samuel.

"This is Lukas." Samuel said, "He's going to be staying with us for a while."

The girl nodded, then glanced at Lillian.

"I had a nightmare." She said softly, and followed when Lillian rose and beckoned her outside.

"That was Aniyah." Samuel's gaze lingered fondly on the door for a moment. "She is normally a sassy ball of energy, but it is nearing the time of year her parents left her and her brother, and she always gets nightmares." He shook his head. "So, game?"

 _Don't you DARE._ The voice snarled. _You will pay for each word you speak in blood and flesh._

"I will respectfully decline." Loki answered, watching Samuel's expression closely. "Forgive me if I do not trust you."

 _Good boy._ The voice purred. Loki contained a shudder with difficulty. The man across from him nodded, his face twitching from disappointment to understanding.

He hadn't been expecting understanding. Anger, yes, Ridicule for his paranoia, or at least annoyance. Not… understanding.

"Well, you look dead on your feet. There is a shower down that hall to the left –" He pointed with one hand, pulling a package of meat out of a large white box with the other. "Guest bedroom is across from it. Unless you want some food, in which case come back here and I will find something."

Then he was ignored as all attention was given to the piece of meat shoved in some humming black box. Loki headed to the shower.

The shower, although very different from the baths they usually had in Asgard, was luxurious. Loki, once he peeled off the his soaked outer clothes and laid the armor neatly across the sink's counter, realized how grimy he felt. He knew he had magiked himself clean at least twice in the past few days, but that didn't really remove the feeling of being dirty.

The pounding hot water massaged his aching and bruised muscles and Loki finally allowed himself to relax minutely. He wasn't sure how long he spent in the shower, but when he emerged there was a note under the door informing him of some clothes just outside.

The pants were loose, and more comfortable than he would have expected, but the shirt irritated him in a way he couldn't quite describe. It was dry clothing, though, and his moth – the All-Mother – mother…

 _Fake worth nothing to him_ except he still somehow couldn't stop loving her.

Anyway, he had actually payed attention in his diplomacy classes (unlike his idiotic oaf of a bro- _not-brother betrayer_ ), and knew a thing or two about being polite.

Loki's stomach rumbled again, and he pulled on his boots, gathering up his armor and hesitantly trying a bit of seidr. His clothes stayed just as wet, and his headache intensified.

Grumbling under his breath, Loki slipped into the guest bedroom – a tiny thing with a closet even tinier. He lay his armor on a chair in one corner and sat down heavily on the bed.

He was a prince. He had been king, for a time, even if that had not ended well. _Traitors everywhere no one would want a Jotuun on the throne even if only He knows_ He did not need to accept the meager offerings these people had. He should demand they bow to him, serve him, _destroy any opposition_ … but he was curious. What were these 'mutants' the man-creature – Samuel – had mentioned?

He wasn't sure how, but somehow Loki ended up curled up on the bed, pillow over his head to drown out even the light coming under the door and one hand wrapped protectively around his aching ribs.

He was out before he even thought about moving.


	3. Chapter 2

**This one is a bit shorter, and probably less interesting. Sorry. Filler chapters are hard. Anyhow, I thought I might as well inform y'all that there will not be regular updates of this. My life is just to busy right now. Maybe in the future, and there will be at least one sequel after this is over, but not now.**

 **Enjoy!**

CHAPTER 2

Loki woke with a jolt to unfamiliar surroundings. He sat up, wincing when his head immediately started pounding again and his stomach churned.

It took him a moment of looking around the room before the previous nights events came back to him. _Stupid idiot putting your lot in with mortals they don't deserve you._

Loki's head felt marginally better, but he still felt like his skull was breaking open – and he desperately needed food.

Food that he could smell in the room next to him.

Getting to his feet, Loki made his way to the bedroom door and opened it. His nose was assaulted with strange smells. It was obviously meal time – there was a small, cooked animal in the center of the kitchen table, and a crowd of people around it.

He leaned on the door frame, watching as the telepath, Lillian, set the table.

In reality, there were only four people, but the room was small and the two smallest children where everywhere. The girl, Aniyah, if he remembered correctly, bounced up to him.

"Hey, Mr. Lukas! You slept a long time! Are you like Sammy?"

Loki blinked at her.

His lack of answer didn't seem to bother her, and she grabbed his hand to drag him to the table. He flinched back, worried that his cold skin would burn her, but she didn't seem to react, dragging him over to the table and pushing him into a seat. Loki let her, too overwhelmed to do anything else.

 _Its poisoned._ The voice was a constant drone in the back of his head. _Don't let them feed you. Don't trust them. You can't trust anyone. Betrayed. Cast out. Unloved._

He tried to ignore it.

" _Jacob_ ," the older child, a dark green haired boy wearing a dark jacket and ripped jeans, groaned, "your experiment exploded _again…_ clean out the microwave..."

Lillian gave him a sharp look and he rolled his eyes.

"Please." He tacked on, in the most sarcastic voice Loki had ever heard.

The third child, Jacob, raced out of the room. "Don't touch anything, Reuben!" He called, and came back a moment later with a small notebook and a pencil. He shoved passed the green haired kid, Reuben, and peered into the black box they had called a microwave. Opening his notebook, he began jotting notes.

Reuben sat down first, and with an obvious telepathic order, Aniyah and Jacob found a seat as well. There was a moment of silence, and then everyone started eating. Loki was still sitting silently, out of his depth and trying not to notice the awful blue of his hands _monster creature feral beast worth nothing alive._

Hesitantly, he picked up one of the utensils. The voice, however, objected strongly. _Don't trust it don't trust anyone they are trying to get you to relax your guard._

But he was so hungry.

 _Do. Not. Eat._

Loki put his fork back down.

 _That wasn't so hard, was it._ The voice purred again. _You do not need their mortal food. You need nothing from them._

"I will!" both Jacob and Aniyah yelled at the same time, both of their hands shooting into the air. Loki jerked back, startled and tense. Reuben sighed and dropped his head onto the table.

Lillian took a deep breath and let it out, and the siblings – for they had to be, to act so alike – dropped their arms sheepishly.

"Yes!" Jacob hissed a second later, and Aniyah stuck her tongue out at him.

"Word for word, now." She smirked. "And no commentary!"

Jacob just grinned, turning toward Loki.

"I'm being translator. Word for word, so everything I say is what Lilly says." He explained, and Reuben wolfed down the rest of his food, glanced at Lillian, and went outside.

"I suppose you have questions." Was the first thing Jacob said. "Ask what you want, I will answer what I can."

Loki sipped from his glass of water before the voice could protest, then cleared his throat.

"Where am I." He asked, keeping his eyes on Lillian and trying to read her body language. "And when." He was at a disadvantage, here, because he could not read her tone and words like he would normally. It was much harder to manipulate things this way.

"Dayburn, Ontario. It is currently May 6th, 2012."

That helped very little. He had no clue what Ontario was, much less where. He needed a map.

 _Unimportant. You need allies._

But first, he wanted to know about mutants.

"These mutants, the… Samuel mentioned. What are they."

Lillian nodded, looking contemplative, and after a moment Jacob started speaking.

"Mutants… we are kind of a different breed of human. There aren't very many of us around, and we aren't very well liked. Basically, we are humans who, somehow that I don't know - "

"I personally think genetic manipulation." Aniyah broke in. "Or aliens. Or maybe we just got unlucky."

"Anyway," Jacob continued, elbowing his sister, "We generally have one ability that is, as some might say, supernatural. I am telepath. Reuben can climb the same way a gecko does. Samuel's situation is… unique. His mutant ability is night vision and… uh… camera evasion.."

Loki frowned. That didn't explain anything.

 _Press._ The voice hissed. _He is unique. Why._

"That does not explain the…" Loki broke off, not sure how to continue.

"The vampirism?" Lillian laughed even as Jacob said the words. "Yeah. Like I said, his situation is unique. But that is a story for another time." She frowned. "You haven't eaten."

 _Do not eat._

"I'm..." starving "Not hungry." Loki shrugged.

The woman's eyes narrowed, but she let it go.

"Any other questions?"

o; "Why do your rulers not recognize you? Surely with the abilities you have gained, you could command respect and honor." Loki leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and his head on his folded hands.

"For one, we would all die." Aniyah said cheerfully. "It's not like practically every human would try to kill us?"

But _why_?

"People fear what they don't understand." Jacob finished, as if the telepath had read his mind.

 _They are trying to make you relax._ The voice started up again, and Loki rubbed his temples. _Soon your mind will no longer be your own._

"Why am I here?"

"You walked, dummy." Again, Aniyah answered first.

Jacob snorted, but dutifully answered for Lillian. "We couldn't leave someone like you wandering the streets alone at night. You looked half dead, and blue is… not exactly the skin color for blending in."

As if on cue, there was a pounding at the front door. Lillian jerked upright, narrowing her eyes, and then Aniyah jumped out of her chair and ran into the hallway. "Coming!" She yelled, but stayed right where she was.

Loki had shot to his feet at the harsh knock, but nearly fell down again when his vision tunneled again. He was still concussed, and without his magic to aid him the ailment was not likely to disappear soon.

 _They sold you out._ The voice hissed. _Their hospitality was a lie. Those at the door are here for you._

Jacob grabbed his hand, again not seeming to be affected by the cold burn of his Jotuun skin. "We gotta go. Rueben'll meet you outside the back door and take you to the panic spot."

"What?" Loki managed, barely keeping up with the hyperactive kid as he was dragged into another room – this one completely dark. His eyes adjusted quickly, despite the lack of light. There was a bed jammed in one corner of the room, and, curled up tightly in the corner of the bed, was Samuel.

Jacob hopped onto the bed and shook Samuel awake. It was quite impressive, really, how quickly the man went from passed out to completely aware.

"What's happening?" He said, quickly sliding out of bed and running a hand through his hair, smoothing it down. He was wearing black sweatpants and a grey t-shirt that made absolutely no sense to Loki's still concussed mind. Who even came up with the phrase 'wibbly wobbly timey wimey'?

"Hunters." Jacob explained, climbing off the bed as well. "Reuben's coming back to get Lukas – Lilly's got the door, but she wants you to translate her sign." Samuel swore, but nodded.

"Got it." He headed out the door, shutting it behind him. Jacob spun around and opened another door, one partly hidden by the open door of a dresser. Bright light spilled into the darkened room, momentarily blinding them both. Jacob peeked out the front door, and a second later Reuben appeared in front of them.

"Come on." Reuben hissed, his face pale under his dark green hair. "We've got to hurry." He shoved a hoodie at Loki, who swiftly put it on, recognizing the value of hiding his colored skin in broad daylight.

Loki followed, still not quite sure what was going on but knowing that if any humans saw him – especially in his current skin and health – he wouldn't last long.

Jacob shut and locked the door behind them, and Reuben jogged off between two alleys. The voice was telling him to _leave the betrayers kill the child and run_ but he shoved it down, allowing the renewed pounding of his head drive it out. Now was not the time to make enemies.

Loki Silvertongue, he had been called, and for good reason. Not just because he knew how to negotiate, but because he knew _when_.

Reuben led him down a few streets to the edge of town, past a field, over a fence, and into a forest of tress that mostly still had their leaves – despite the cool weather. Loki payed close attention to where he was being led, determined to be able to find his way out if, indeed, he had been betrayed.

The voice in the back of his mind was getting harder to ignore, and so was the pounding of his head. Loki grimaced. Everything was starting to sway again, and his ribs were in agony. He would need to stop soon.

Thankfully, a few minutes later Reuben pulled to a stop next to a large bushy tree. It's leaves brushed the ground on all sides, and the boy ducked through them, disappearing from view. Loki hesitantly followed. Inside the tree's shelter, the ground was clear of leaves. Reuben was half way onto a low hanging branch already. His jacket had fallen off one shoulder while climbing, and Loki noted in slight shock that there were green scales seemingly creeping up his neck.

These people truly weren't completely human.

"Why did we run." Loki asked, caving slightly to the demands of _what is so powerful Loki Sky-treader has to run like a coward._

"Mutant hunters." Reuben said, not looking at Loki as he pulled himself completely onto the branch and settled against it. He pulled out his phone. "You and I are the only ones unable to pass off as human, so we had to leave. Someone probably saw you last night and alerted one of the factions." He paused, rolling his shoulders before glaring at Loki.

"We stay here till someone comes." Reuben explained. "And, just to be clear, I do not trust you. I don't know why Lilly and Samuel let you into our home, but I will be keeping an eye on you. Just in case." He added darkly.

Loki nodded once, sinking down to lean against the base of the tree. The kid was smart. He probably _shouldn't_ be trusted.


	4. Chapter 3

**Again, a short chapter, sorry.**

 **It's another sort of filler chapter, and I am not great at that, so… short.**

 **If you see anything wrong grammatically, or a sentence that doesn't read well, or have comments on my writing style in general, please tell me. I am always looking to make my writing better.**

 **Check out** _ **Consulting Chaos**_ **sometime in the future.** **he has been kind enough to let me throw ideas and half done chapters at him until things work. Great person to brainstorm with, if I do say so myself.** **Maybe he will get his own book on here some day.**

 **Anyway, enough about myself.**

 **Enjoy!**

CHAPTER 3

It seemed like hours passed before they heard any word. Loki, who still did not feel the cold, sat in the snow on the ground and waited – running through spells in his mind and trying to keep from thinking about more painful topics. Reuben was not so lucky. Even though the branches of the tree took the edge off the wind, it was still chilly and with no movement to keep him warm the mutant was shivering. He still hadn't come off the branch, sitting curled in the dip between the branch and the main trunk of the tree. Currently he was occupied by some small black object that Loki was fairly certain hadn't existed last time he had come to Midgard.

Loki was beginning to be bored, and with boredom came the voice and those small slips of time he couldn't remember.

 _Abandoned unwanted trash to be thrown out_ _in the snow_ it whispered, echoing over and over in his subconscious.

Then Reuben straightened up, shifting on his branch and craning his neck back the way they had come.

Loki sat up as well, wary once more – internally itching for a fight. He wanted, in the dark recesses of his mind, to shame himself for running – to go back and rip apart those who dared chase him. To rend, to tear, to destroy. He wanted to make the entire town cower – maybe even build an army with these newfound mutants. The problem was, the other half of him was tired of just that. He wanted to go back home, to his room, to the library where he had spent so long among dust covered tomes reading and practicing his magic.

Too bad Asgard was barred from him forever. _Those traitorous lying curs._

"It's time to go." Reuben broke in his thoughts, sliding smoothly from his perch to the snow. Loki got to his feet, watching the boy carefully. The child moved through the tree like he had been born in one – smoothly, with barely the effort needed to place his hand on one side of the trunk to anchor himself.

These sparks of godhood in mortals – it was fascinating. He wondered if, somehow, many of these mutants were gathered together, they could win against one of Asgard's finest.

He had been the finest seidmadr, once, aside from his mother.

Not so much, now.

"The hunters are gone. We will need to stay out of the house till after dark, in case they stake it out, though. Sammy's gonna come out there to keep us company."

"Wouldn't that lead them to us?" Loki asked, tentatively poking at his recovering well of seidr. It still wasn't responding, though he could feel it growing. It wouldn't be more than a day before he could muster the strength to change his skin back. Half, if he pushed it. It wasn't smart, but he desperately wanted _not_ to see blue when he looked at his hands.

 _Coward monster failure_ the voice said.

"Nah. Samuel's smart. He wont let them follow."

Loki raised an eyebrow at the youth's naive trust in his guardian. He should know – he had enough experience with family betraying him. _They cast you out, lied, deceived, mocked._ It was getting harder to ignore the voice, now, with his headache fading.

"He knows these woods well?" Loki asked, knowing that the more he knew about those he was staying with, the better. Right now, he knew practically nothing. It was unsafe. He needed to build relationships, so he could glean information of potential enemies.

 _Lies, just like those you were told. A betrayer – no better than the All-father. Just a tool, a war-prize._

Or maybe not. Maybe he didn't want to keep living with no one to lean on. Since Sigyn had died and his brother abandoned him for those cursed warriors three, he had been alone. Maybe he could finally find peace, with this strangely functional family in this oddly white land.

No one from his old life knew where he was, and no one here seemed to know who – no, what – he was.

Maybe he could end up as something other than the monster in the story, for once.

 _You can't change your species._ The voice hissed in his ear. _You will always be a monster. Destroyer of worlds, murderer of children._

But I can try.

 _And you will fail._

Reuben, oblivious to the internal debate, scoffed.

"Well? He practically lives, here, when he isn't at the house. Spends most of the night out here, I think." He looked back at Loki, smirking. "It's not like you can hang out all night in town. Someone would notice, eventually." The words turned bitter, angry. "And then we would have to run again."

Loki considered this, trying to read the story behind what he had seen and been told. This was a family – not of blood, but a family nonetheless – forged despite never having a true home. The younger ones were mature beyond their years, the eldest protectors, and the middle a ball of anger and mistrust.

Enemies everywhere, with no one to trust but themselves.

The potential chaos was alluring.

 _You'll ruin everything. Destroy them, just like you tore apart your own family._

"Talking about me behind my back, are we?"

Loki jumped, swiveling around and coming face to face with Samuel. He slowly slipped his knife back in his boot, taking a step back to put some distance between them – noticing, with some surprise, that the man's once completely black eyes had faded to a more normal pupil size and irises of a rich, dark chocolate.

Samuel smirked.

"They didn't suspect a thing. One of their cameras caught you heading into our neighborhood, so they were just canvasing the area."

Loki frowned. That wasn't right. He had been following Samuel at the time – quite closely, in fact. _They betrayed you._ The voice whispered, _Just like you knew they would._

"You were before me." He started, "They would have seen..." He trailed off, barely curtailing the flare of temper when both mutants laughed.

 _Laughingstock just like you were on Asgard, even when you saved their lives. You will never be a part of anything honestly._

"They wish." Samuel snorted. "I can't be seen on camera. No idea why, but it made school pictures a challenge freshman year. All their cameras picked up was you."

Oh. They were laughing at the hunters, not him.

"Whaddaya do out here all night, anyway?" Reuben interrupted, "It's boring. I don't even have cell service."

Samuel rolled his eyes. "I hunt, sometimes. Recently, I've had a project. It's why I was in town, actually."

Reuben's expression clearly said _'Oh really? And you haven't shared this why?'_

"You know those girls that've been going missing?"

Reuben shrugged noncommittally, but Loki watched Samuel carefully. Was the man succumbing to the baser desires at night, capturing beautiful women and draining them of their life force? It reminded him of horror stories his not-brother's friends had told him before he was old enough to know better – as well as creatures he and his not-brother had conquered on one of their many adventures. The thought stirred up bittersweet memories soon were overtaken by the despair that followed adventure after adventure, when the blond oaf and his friends mocked him for using magic and laughed about every little mistake. _Coward woman fake unworthy_ the voice echoed.

"I thought I might could find their killer. They all disappeared at night, so… I dunno. I thought I might could do some good."

Again, Loki was surprised. When had he started misjudging people so badly? Back ho- in Asgard, he could have told a person's motivation with just one conversation.

Now? Not so much.

Sighing, Reuben shook his head. "I can barely attend school and you go hunting killers at night? Not cool, Sammy."

"Look, you know -"

 _Rock me mama like a wagon wheel, rock me mama any way you feel..."_

Both mutants froze when something burst into song. The knife in Loki's boot found it's way into his hand again – so quickly he wasn't sure if it was him or his seidr that had done it.

"Looks like there is a cell signal after all," Samuel commented, at the same time that Reuben muttered "Really? Country? As if your tastes could be worse..." and fished a rectangular black device out of one pocket. He poked the device a few times and held it to his ear.

"What's up, Jacob? Everything okay?" There was a beat of silence, then "What?"

"In broad daylight?"

Samuel swore, violently, and his eyes flashed completely black. Loki tensed, knowing immediately that whatever was happening couldn't be good.

"Look, Yakov, Lilly will be there in a minute. Go inside, wait in the waiting room. Okay? It's gonna be fine." The man started pacing, holding the device to his ear but not saying anything. After a moment, he pulled it away, clenching it in his fist and licking his lips slowly. The tip of his tongue came appeared bloody, and his expression darkened even further. His eyes remained black.

"What's going on?" Reuben asked, trying to appear casual but failing miserably. His hands were flexing at his sides, his fingers rubbing together nervously.

 _See?_ The voice crowed triumphantly. _You've already ruined everything. Better off dead, some might say. Only good snake is a dead snake, after all._

"Some bastard took Ani." Samuel said tightly. "And I think I know who."

"Then what's the problem? Let's go!" Reuben's voice rose slightly, anger and fear evident in his tone.

"I don't know where." Samuel said tightly. "And, based on the time the other girls had, we don't have long."

Reuben paled considerably.

"You think..." He broke off, not wanting to continue, but Samuel nodded anyway.

"Yeah. From what Jacob said… he fits the profile. And you know Aniyah is a little too trusting."

"Alright, then, lets go into town and start tracking her!"

Samuel glanced at Loki, who was still watching the exchange.

"We can't take him."

"Then leave him!"

"Him is right here." Loki interrupted, acerbic. This was just like before. He was the liability, the one left behind while others blundered about ruining things.

"Sorry." Sighing, Samuel rubbed the bridge of his nose and turned back to Reuben. "I've been tracking this guy for weeks – I'm sure he doesn't keep his victims in town – but I can't seem to find him after he leaves city limits. It's like he telepor – Oh no." If possible, Samuel's already pale complexion went a few shades lighter.

"What?"

"What if the killer is a mutant?"


	5. Chapter 4

**Hello, readers!**

 **Something actually interesting happened! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter… its a bit more intense than the previous ones.**

 **Remember I am always happy for people to critique my writing. How am I supposed to learn, otherwise?**

 **Enough with the talk. Enjoy!**

CHAPTER 4

Samuel was pacing back and forth, his hands running through his dark hair, muttering to himself. Reuben watched him, a dark look on his face.

Loki stood silently, waiting.

"What, exactly, are we waiting for?" Reuben snapped, once, but subsided at Samuel's glare.

"Lillian." The man shot back, then went back to his pacing. Despite Samuel's unnaturally light tread, there was a deep rut in the snow where he walked.

Finally, there was action. Samuel straightened, unconsciously turning slightly toward town, where his sister was. After a moment he relaxed again, facing Reuben.

"Let's go." He said, and Reuben was at his side in an instant.

"What are we doing?"

"Going back to town. Lilly thinks she has a lead." Samuel pivoted on one foot, breaking into a run back toward the town. Startled, Reuben jogged after him.

Loki was left there, standing under the tree. Abandoned, like so many times before.

 _I told you they were no different._ The voice crowed. _No one will ever accept you._

Loki tried to ignore it. The Family had proved him wrong several times before – surely it could do so again. They were trying to save one of there own, after all. He was not one of them – they had no obligation to include him.

Despite the litany of excuses he offered himself, the betrayal sat deep in his sub-conscious. _Monster._ The voice chanted. _Unwanted. Beast. Nightmare of Children. Unloved. Alone._ Over that, _LEAVE THEM, AS THEY HAVE LEFT YOU._

Loki turned and walked the other direction.

"Hey, man, why you out here alone?"

The question startled Loki, and he spun around, knife appearing in his hand. The man across the clearing from him stepped back at the flash of the blade, but a second later a look of understanding crossed his face and he approached fearlessly.

"Had some trouble recently?" He asked, with a commiserating look. "Humans been hunting again?"

Loki frowned, looking the man up and down. What was he talking about?

"Need some proof 'fore you put the knife away, huh?" The stranger nodded, as if he knew exactly what Loki was thinking.

Loki himself didn't know what he was thinking, but the voice was yelling _Assess. Potential ally against humanity_ so he figured he would just play along with the man's fantasy.

"I would appreciate it." Loki shifted, affecting the nervous posture of a man too long on the run. If there was one thing he was good at, it was acting. The man across from him never suspected a thing.

"I'm a teleporter, see? One o' us despised mutants." He winked, and disappeared from view. "Jus' like you." Loki spun around to find the man behind him. Realizing this was the assurance that was mentioned, Loki slowly put his knife back in his boot and relaxed.

 _Finally._ The voice purred, _someone to truly help._

"It's been too long, brother." Loki sighed, still not sure who the guy was but smart enough not to cause unnecessary suspicion.

"Don't I know it." The man laughed, sticking one hand out. "I'm Henry. Don't got a last name." Loki gingerly shook his hand, wincing when Henry had to shake blood back into it afterward.

Despite his relaxed posture, Loki still definitely felt threatened.

 _Control yourself, whelp._ The voice murmured. _You can relax now. I'll keep you safe. Can't have you screwing everything up now, can we._

"My apologies." Lukas looked at the ground, seemingly embarrassed. "Still stressed, I suppose. It's hard to get a handle of, sometimes. My name is Lukas."

"It's a pleasure, Lukas," Henry grinned widely. "And don't you apologize. I know it ain't your fault. Can't help how we're born, after all." He paused, eyeing Loki closely. "You know, you could stay at my place. I got plenty of room, and you look like a man that needs some sweet revenge."

 _Oh, I can't wait._ _The possibilities of destruction, torture, more proof that you are the villain everyone thinks you to be… It's going to be wonderful!_ The voice crowed, triumphant, and deep within himself, Loki flinched, mind recoiling with suddenly remembered fear – and it was all the opportunity needed to crash through his already betrayal-weakened barriers.

Loki drowned in blue light and acid. It was a vice constricting his mind, clamping down on what little was left of his heart. A terrifying smile spread across his face.

He met Henry's eyes, voice going quiet – gaze just a little crazed.

"I would love too."

Henry's answering smile was, if possible, more maniacal than Loki's own.

"I knew I saw that spark in you." He laughed. "We're gonna have so much fun together."

"Oh we are." Loki agreed.

Beneath the surface, he choked on a collar that would only tighten the more he fought.

Beneath the surface, Loki twitched, and fell silent.

Once the Master had his tool again, no one was going to take it away.

The building Henry led him to appeared to be a run down shack, but the inside was equipped with all of the latest modern appliances. In one closet a long ladder led down to what the mutant said was a basement. When Loki opened the door, a bedraggled bird shot out of the closet and ran straight into a window. Chuckling, Henry shooed it out the front door.

"My little project's down there." Henry explained, slouching in a chair at the kitchen table as Loki inspected the rest of the building. "I' been takin human children to make a point. The people need to realize that we are dangerous. We should be feared – respected." He shrugged. "The bird was just being annoying."

"My thoughts exactly." Loki nodded. "Every race loves it's offspring. It is their weakest link."

"So, I've been thinking." Henry leaned forward as Loki took a seat across from him. "Now that there's two of us, you think we could do more? Get together a group of unhappy mutants, form a resistance. I set up out here in the middle o' nowhere 'cause America is way too strict. Watchers everywhere. But there are a lot of angry mutants who could use a leader."

"And who would you propose as a leader?"

"Well, me, of course. But you could be, like, my second." Loki nodded slowly. Of course, being second-in-command was not acceptable, but Henry could easily be disposed of. He could definitely make use of a 'mutant' army.

"The plan sounds feasible." He allowed, "But it will take some time."

"Oh, don't you worry. I got contacts." Henry smiled. "It won't take half as long as you think."

Maybe, but Loki figured it would take twice as long as he wanted. There were several stones on earth – the sooner he had an army, the sooner he could make a way for the Master to arrive.

Perhaps he should dispose of Henry sooner, rather than later. Speed up the time table a little.

"Make yourself at home." Said mutant stood, stretching. "I think I'll give my guest a little visit." He paused. "Unless you would like to come?"

Loki shrugged. "I might as well. It's been to long since I last enjoyed myself."

Both men descended into the basement. It was small, dark, and cold, but Loki could see clearly. Obviously Henry could not, for a second after they were both inside bright, fluorescent lights clicked on.

"Lukas?" The voice was small, scared, hopeful, and Loki turned to find Aniyah sitting on the floor in the far corner of the room. He needed to break that hope as soon as possible. It would be the kind thing to do, so the child would not suffer so much when he killed her and her family.

It wouldn't do to leave lose ends. Temptations, the lot of them. Made it harder to keep control.

"You know the wench?" Henry asked, suspicious.

"Ran into her yesterday in town." Loki lied smoothly. "Right before the hunters showed up."

Henry's expression cleared, morphing, once more into one of understanding.

"Even the children." He shook his head. "I'm starting to think there is no hope."

Loki snorted. "And the brat thinks I'd be sympathetic."

Aniyah's expression went from hopeful to betrayed in an instant.

"But… Lukas..." The girl shifted, staring at him imploringly. Loki sneered at her, turning back to Henry. Aniyah wasn't done, though. She shot to her feet, hands clenched at her sides. "You used us, didn't you." She snarled, furious. "Was this your goal all along? To make innocent people suffer? I hope you go to hell." Loki turned back to her, eyebrows raised. He hadn't seen the fire in her before. It was impressive, for one so small to have such a big presence. "No." She lifted her head, looking down her nose at him. "I know you will."

Loki smirked.

"Darling, I was going there a long time ago."

Underneath everything, Loki stirred awake again. The betrayal in the child's voice shook him. He too knew the feeling, and it hurt that he was doing what he had vowed never to do. Even when shunned, Loki had always been exceedingly loyal.

It was why he had never left Thor's little group, before the failed coronation and the tumble off the bridge.

An icy shard of fear worked its way into the apathetic thoughts the vice had left him with.

There was something down there, something horrible, and he had to prepare the nine realms.

The vice clamped down on him again, but now there was a crack in the cage.

"Little spitfire, isn't she." Henry muttered in Loki's ear. "Nearly took my ear off getting her in here. It's a pity she has to die."

"How soon do you plan to do it?" Loki asked, voice a little strained. "Personally, I would do it sooner rather than later." Better to ruin the chance of redemption as soon as possible. Break the tool's back before it could get too rebellious.

"It has been a long time, hasn't it." The mutant beside him laughed. "You're pretty eager. I would agree, 'cept I know for a fact that the longer you wait the sweeter it is."

Loki grimaced. "I've got the blood lust, now, brother. Death is calling me."

In more ways than one, he thought, happy for a brief instant. Maybe she would like a new kind of creature as an offering.

"Well, if you're sure, we can always get ano –" Henry was broken off by a small, dark-haired blur slamming into him. The girl managed to get a shot in at the back of his legs, and the mutant stumbled, going to one knee. A second later he gasped in pain, and she drew back, blood glistening from a tiny, razor sharp dagger.

"Forgot to search me, didn't you. Foolish prick." Aniyah hissed. Loki's hand shot out, encircling the child's neck, and with one stride he was holding her up against the wall.

"You're gonna regret that, little girl." He hissed, and her knife came up to his wrist. It slid harmlessly off, the flicker of seidr where it hit protecting him from harm. His eyes flashed, waiting for her to start screaming as her throat and neck began to burn from the ice cold of his grip.

It never happened.

Aniyah, eyes wide, frowned at him. Loki shook his head, trying to get a grip on himself. Why wasn't it working? Surely the adrenaline would have made it happen, at least.

Then three things happened in tandem.

Something small and hard impacted his shoulder, his seidr barely holding it off.

The knife came up again, slicing into his wrist while his seidr was spread too thin to help.

The cage shattered.

Loki blinked, confused in the onrush of sensations. There was another bang from behind him, and the crazy mutant cried out. Aniyah kicked him in the chest, and he dropped her to the ground. She retreated quickly, and he was left staring at the wall in-front of him as he and the voice warred for control. It was too much for his still fragile grip on reality, the voice overpowering his own thoughts by shear volume.

 _KILL. MAIM. DESTROY. BURN_ _THEM_ _FOR ATTEMPTING TO TOUCH_ _YOU._ _THEY ARE WORTH NOTHING TO YOU. COME BACK TO ME, MY PET. LET ME IN. USE THE BLOOD OF THE SLAIN AS A SACRIFICE TO DEATH AND BRING ME HERE._

Loki's knife flashed in the corner of his red tinged vision as he spun on his heal and advanced towards the two people across the room. His stomach churned with blood lust, even as some distant part of him protested his every move. He jerked once, halting in his progression, and the voice commanded him again.

 _KILL. THEM. ALL._

His thoughts were again swept under a current of hatred and he started forward again, not caring who got in his way. The prone form of Henry was stepped over as if it was not there.

A second later something slammed into him, a body that was heavy with coiled muscle driving him to the ground. His head crashed against the concrete floor and everything flashed black, the voice's constant yelling silenced for a moment. Loki blinked.

Samuel was crouched over him, fangs bared and dangerously close to his jugular and the pulsing veins in his neck. He could feel the edge of a knife digging into the tender skin of his wrist, immobilizing his knife hand.

What was he doing?

 _FIGHT BACK._ The voice ordered, and Loki started to struggle. The knife dug deeper, blood welling out of the gash, and in a flash he felt the tips of razor sharp fangs touch an artery. He froze. A philosopher might have theorized that, when you were dangerously close to having your throat torn out, there was an instinct not to move.

They would be partially correct – for Jotuun, at least. On Jötunheimr, before they had been all but wiped out during the great war, there had been a predator who killed in such a fashion. Once caught, only by remaining motionless could the victim have a chance of survival.

That inherent instinct proved it's worth.

 _WHELP PROVE YOUR WORTH KILL THE CREATURE._

The fangs tightened, dangerously close to piercing skin, and Loki did not move.

 _"Samuel, wait!"_ The cry was sudden and unexpected, projected to both himself and the man on top of him. There was a moment of silence, then, _"He isn't himself. Don't kill him. Hold him there, let me enter his mind."_

Loki was too far in the torrent of words that was the voice to notice.

 _FAILURE WORTHLESS COWARD HE IS NO MATCH FOR YOU KILL HIM_ it roared, but still, Loki remained still.

Samuel growled low in his throat, obviously unhappy with that, but the fangs didn't push any deeper.

 _"_ _Please, Samuel. This isn't him."_

After a moment, Samuel shifted, and suddenly there was another pair of hands on him, pinning his legs with fingers that pulled on his skin and stuck fast.

The fangs never let up.

A second later, a second figure passed through his vision and crouched beside him, placing a hand on either side of his head.

 _NO._ The voice ordered, furious. _DO NOT LET IT IN._

 _Not again._ His own thoughts were racing, panicked, and distantly he heard a low, keening noise. _Please, please, not again._ _I'll do anything._

The voice didn't relent. _RIPPING TEARING BURNING TWISTING,_ it chanted, _the girl is going to break you like you were broken before me._

Then a third presence entered his mind, and he was back in his nightmares again.

 _The collar choked him as he tried to move and fight back, but the magic held him captive. One of His lackeys stood there, laughing._ _Eventually, the creature_ _finally_ _had_ _enough and with a wave of his hand used Loki's own, unattainable seidr to_ _send him to his knees and_ _seal the chain in the middle of the courtyard to the collar around his neck._

 _"He has deemed you properly softened, so prepare yourself, whelp." The man crooned, "You're about to meet your master."_

 _The mental attack was sudden, barbed, and cut through his defenses like butter._

 _Loki screamed._

 _"_ _Hey, shh, he's not here." A soft voice cut through the haze of blue light and_ _somehow, miraculously, diluted the_ _acid in his veins. "I managed to temporarily shut him out. Its very long distance, you know."_

His mind was ripped raw, muddled, and confused, thoughts scattered across the vastness of his conscience. It was hard, forming a coherent sentence.

 _"Wha_ _t_ _…_ _?"_ Was all he _managed_ , but the soft voice heard him.

 _"I'm attempting to remove the connection to your mind, but I'm having trouble finding the source. D'you think you can show me where the voice comes from?"_

Loki had always been good at mental organization. He had to be, to immerse himself in learning as he did. Now, though… it was a different story. He tried, sickeningly eager to please the nicer voice, to navigate the waters of his mind. Despite his efforts, he kept getting pulled back under – first into one bad memory, and then another.

The softness of the voice pulled him out every time.

It felt like he was lost in his mind for eons, stumbling around in a blind haze. Then, when he was sure he would never find his way, he found it. It was a small, barely noticeable thing. A small ball of aqua light that looked warm and welcoming, but felt so _horribly_ wrong.

He instinctively shrank away.

 _"_ _Got it."_ The new voice murmured, and something inside him convulsed. Loki arched his back, biting down on a piece of leather that had appeared between his teeth. Green flame flickered at his fingertips, beginning to trail up his arms.

 _"_ _Restrain your magic!"_ The voice shouted inside his head. _"It's fighting back. Let me work!"_

Loki hadn't been aware that he had magic left over to fight back with, but he dutifully tamped down on his well of seidr. A second later, he realized what he had done.

Apparently, the voice had left a number of habits behind.

The ball of light flashed once, spreading through his mind and ripping something from it – something he had only had a tentative grasp on to start with.

Then there was a final tug, an awful, ripping sensation, and Loki collapsed back onto the ground, trembling.

He felt the owner of the voice – Lillian, he now realized – straighten up behind him, removing her hands from his head and exhaling a deep breath.

 _"_ _It's done."_ she said, and Loki flinched. There was a softer _"sorry."_ and then the voice withdrew entirely – probably talking to Samuel.

Samuel, who had nearly ripped his throat out.

Samuel, who was never going to trust him again.

He might as well have signed his death sentence.


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. I'm not gonna make any excuses, cause I can't promise regular updates and most of my excuses are dumb anyway.**

 **I am, however, flooded in right now, so I put of schoolwork to write!**

 **Enjoy!**

CHAPTER 5

Loki lay there for several minutes, slowly but surely bringing himself back under control. His mind was still a mess – he knew it would take hours of meditation to return it to any semblance of order. It was as if something had gone about ripping holes everywhere and dumping trash about.

Disgusting.

Inhaling a deep breath, Loki tuned into the conversation around him and rolled onto his stomach to begin gathering his still somewhat shaky limbs underneath him.

"Look, I don't care. I don't want him anywhere near the kids."

"I'm not a kid!"

"Aniyah, you're nine. Sure, you are a mutant, and you are definitely more mature than most nine year olds are, but you are still a kid – Lillian, please. I can't do it. Not after… Not right now, anyway."

"You know, I noticed it too."

"What?"

"When he was holding me. His eyes were getting bigger and smaller, like they couldn't decide what size to be."

"Lilly! – I… Fine. Fine, but not with us. Not sure how that is supposed to work with his color and all, either…"

Something poked him in the side. Loki flinched, hand instinctively going for his only weapon, but it was not there.

"Looking for something? I think I'm gonna keep it. Don't find many knives this good of quality around here."

Loki looked up, seeing Aniyah crouched next to him – nervous, but trying her best not to show it – and Samuel a few steps behind her. There was a flash of panic and what Loki wanted most was to retreat to the far wall, but he refused to show weakness – despite the pitch black eyes and the sneer of bloody, pointed fangs. The mutant was twirling Loki's knife in one hand.

Stone faced, clamping tightly down on the confused emotions swirling within him, Loki stood. Aniyah hopped up and trotted back to Lillian. The woman gave her ward a nod and Aniyah disappeared out the door to the basement.

Lillian moved forward to her brother's side as Samuel slipped the knife into an empty sheath on his hip.

"Well. I would definitely say there have been some kinks put in our budding friendship." Samuel watched Loki, unblinking. Lillian snorted, and then Samuel's mouth twitched into a small grin. "Although, as Lilly says," He continued, "There wasn't much of one to start with – having known you less than a day."

"My deepest apologies." Loki said smoothly, dipping his head slightly. "I am truly sorry I inconvenienced you in such a way. If you wish it, I will never visit these lands again."

"I would very much like that." Samuel responded haughtily, but then Lillian nudged him and he sighed. "However, I do understand that your actions were not your own. Lilly has shared some of her memory with me, and… Just, if you need a few days we can bunk you somewhere. Until you get back on your own feet." He shook his head, carefully licking his teeth. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find something to kill."

Then Samuel, too, left the room.

Lillian stood there silently, watching him, and Loki was suddenly struck with a very, very foolish idea. The telepath was not of Aesir blood – but then, neither was he. Nevertheless, he owed her for his life. Whatever had been in his head was definitely harmful, and Loki hadn't even realized there was a problem. He never would have broken free on his own.

Two steps later, he was kneeling in-front of her, his haunted green eyes meeting her surprised brown ones.

"My Lady," he started, then paused, licking his lips. Loki had never done this before, in all his millennia of life.

He had never felt indebted to someone as he did now. Despite his misgivings, he could feel what remained of his magic urging him on.

"My Lady," He started again, "You have done me a great service. I recognize that you are capable of defending yourself and your own, but allow me this one thing in return. If you ever have need of me, I swear on my seidr and my fa-" Loki choked that word off, continuing as if nothing had happened, "that I will come to your aid. You need only call me."

Lillian gave him a searching look – obviously unsure but realizing the importance of what was happening – and nodded once.

"Thank you. I will take my leave now."

Loki rose to his feet again, bowed in her direction, and left the room. Samuel, Aniyah, Jacob, and Reuben were outside the little house, out of the direct line of sight of the front door, so Loki left quickly, slipping out the door and into the forest beyond it.

There was no need to ruin their lives any more than he already had.

* * *

" _Why am I not surprised." Fury stood in-front of the monitor, back to the group. "_ _You had one job. One! And you managed to botch it up completely."_

 _"Well, technically, we had several. You know, kill the aliens, shut the portal, save the world… which one are you ranting about? 'Cause I'm pretty sure we did all of those. No thanks to you." Tony Stark lounged on one of the chairs around the table, lazily picking at his fingernails._

 _Steve threw him a reprimanding glance. The billionaire, as always, pointedly ignored him._

 _"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Stark."_ _Fury glared at the man_ _a moment_ _before resuming his previous stance, feet set apart and hands clasped behind his back._ _Tony was not cowed in the least, smirking and flipping a stylus._ _"We need to find the runaway before he tries again."_

 _"If my brother has truly run, you will not find him until he wants you too." Thor commented, crossing his arms over his chest. "Long has he been able to hide himself, even from Heimdall's sight."_

 _"So what, we have to wait?" Clint snapped,_ _glaring at the thunder-god. "Wait until he has other people enslaved to him?" Natasha put a calming hand on his shoulder,_ _and_ _Clint rolled his eyes but relaxed back into his seat._

 _"Stark, you are the most likely to find him. Use the AI. If Loki is still on earth, I doubt he knows to avoid cameras."_

 _"Aww, I knew you loved me." Stark grinned broadly, before frowning. "And 'The AI' has a name – JARVIS, and he is already looking. Not much else I can do."_

 _"Figure something out. We need to find him, and we need to do it quickly."_

* * *

Food. That was the most important thing, in Loki's opinion. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had eaten – and, although his seidr was recovering, it would do so at a much greater speed if it didn't have to use his own energy.

There was no way he could walk into a town to find some, not while he was still in the _other_ skin, so he fell back on another, well used skill. Hunting.

One unfortunately small conjured knife later, and he was on the move, ignoring his unhappy stomach in favor of slinking between trees, following footprints and tricking the wildlife. The movements were instinctive, allowing him to focus much of his attention internally.

A seidmadr's mind is very different from that of an average being. Most, excepting the occasional genius, have no concept of how their mind works. Things enter and exit entirely without conscious thought, allowing someone to learn subconsciously but also forget without realizing. A seidmadr, on the other hand, can feel their mind – enter it, one might say. The seidr, as the user becomes more and more proficient, expands the capabilities of the mind. It is not just an energy to be exploited. Seidr can be almost sentient at times, and, over time, it entwines itself throughout it's user's being until the two are one and the same. Often, the unfortunate seidmadr who is cut off from his seidr will go mad. It wants to be used, wants to help, and so it makes it easier for it's host as much as possible. Because of this, the seidmadr's mind is capable of learning much more, much faster, and retaining information much longer than is normal.

Loki planned to use that to his advantage, in this new world. Asgard thought him a monster, a lost cause. Odin had practically disowned him. What better way to thumb his nose at them all than to build a new life, away from their poisoning words?

It would be a challenge, what with the destruction he had already caused, but he had never been one to shy away from such a thing.

* * *

 _"Look, you can clearly see the mutant entering the alley, and he seems to be talking to someone, but there is no one there!"_

 _"Maybe we were wrong. Maybe there was more than one mutant in the town."_

 _"Should we go back?"_

 _"Not yet. I'm sure with all our snooping around any mutant's will be on high alert. Let's wait, let them relax again, and then strike."_

 _"Very well, Captain. Do you want me to alert the scientist of the possibility of an invisible mutant?"_

 _"Might as well. Give them time to prepare a room. And tell the new recruits to meet in the gym. We have some training to do."_

 _"Yes, Captain."_

* * *

Loki was awoken hours after dark by flapping in-front of the small cave he was occupying. Seconds later, there was a thump, and a dark object fell to the ground. Cautiously, Loki moved toward it. When nothing happened, and the deliverer seemed to be gone, he pulled it into the cave with him and opened it. Inside was a roll of multicolored currency, some food, and a knife. Not his knife, but one of decent quality all the same. Taped to the package was a piece of paper with four words on it.

 _Good Luck – the O'harleys._

That night, the blue of his skin faded. The second thing Loki did, as soon as he had the seidr for it, was hide himself from the stalker in the sky, Heimdall. It wouldn't do to start over on this new world just to be dragged back home by the ear like a child.

-...-

Three days later, Loki found his new realm.

Well, realm would not be an accurate term. In reality, it was a rented second floor apartment in the middle of a bustling Midgardian city. One computer and five days after that – he had told himself he would sort through the mess in his head, but it was so much easier to drown the echoes out – Loki emerged with a splitting headache and a new understanding of the world.

If you called 'knowing enough to survive' a new understanding.

He was walking down a street near his apartment, learning the lay of the land, when it happened.

The shop next to him was one of clothing, as were the two previous, and he absently wondered how there were so many styles in one town. Apparently, Midgardians rarely agreed with each-other on what was important.

Out of the corner of his eye, Loki caught a glimpse of something purple and wrinkled, and his seidr welled up protectively as his mind short circuited.

Loki stumbled away from the offending object, turning a corner and pressing himself against a wall. His breath caught, his vision began to tunnel, and for a few seconds he couldn't breath. Then he was gasping, unable to get a full breath but needing air all the same.

Nearby, someone screamed, and the sound shocked Loki out of whatever insanity had befallen him. Breathing heavily, he worked to control his racing heart and make sense of what had just happened. He had been gripped by a completely irrational fear, all because of a piece of wrinkled purple cloth.

It was pitiful.

Determined to face this sudden fear, Loki stepped back around the corner of the building.

There was no piece of cloth.

Or window, for that matter.

The glass had shattered all across the sidewalk, and, instead of a neat line of dressed plastic women, there was a small inferno. The piece of purple fabric was a heap of black on the ground.

Loki caught sight of the small black 'phones' being pulled out, likely taking pictures, and decided it was time to take his leave. After the Midgardian enforcers had left, he would venture back into the area.

Finding the episode had transformed a vague hunger into something ravenous and left him drained of energy, he walked a few more blocks, looking for somewhere interesting to eat. One sign, a green portrayal of a woman holding two striped eels, caught his fancy.

"Hey, welcome to Starbucks!" The woman behind the counter was small, but her excitable personality was an almost tangible cloud around her. "What can I get for you today?"

Loki gave the girl a flattering smile. "Surprise me. I have not been in this establishment before."

She blushed, and Loki was relieved that he hadn't lost his touch for subtle manipulation.

"Well, are you hungry, or just here for a drink?"

"Both, I believe."

The woman licked her lips, smiling back at him.

"Well, my favorite sandwich is the Honey Barbecue Sriracha Chicken Sandwich… is that okay?"

Loki raised his eyebrows, tilting his head slightly.

"I asked you to surprise me."

"Right." The waitress turned around and glanced at the menu above her head before going to the register. "Okay, barbecue sandwich..." she muttered to herself, glancing back up at Loki. "You strike me as a mocha kinda guy..." she turned back to the register. "So maybe an iced white chocolate, with a double shot… grande. Okay, that will be –"

"I don't want to know." He handed her some quickly conjured cash, and she nodded.

"One of those days. Got it. I'll have your order right up."

'Starbucks' quickly became one of his favorite places to be – second only to the libraries.

-...-

A day or so later, carrying rolls of conjured currency, Loki ventured into one of the Midgardian stores of clothing. He had been cleansing his clothing with seidr after resizing them to his size, not having enough power yet to create his own from scratch, but he was quickly growing tired of it.

Thus, new attire.

It was very different from ho – Asgard, where clothing was created and fitted for each individual. He could see why. Midgardians reproduced at a monumental rate – no doubt they wouldn't have enough skilled craftpeople to serve the masses.

Loki entered one of the more commonly used stores warily. He despised quality that was less than the best, but he couldn't really afford to be picky and get noticed.

Besides, the hoodie he had been given was much more comfortable than expected – even though it's looseness made him feel exposed. He was used to the close-fitting leather armor he had worn on Asgard, and although on this world that would stand out, he could compromise.

The establishment had several selections of skin tight clothing, and Loki found he rather liked the feel of the dark colored 'jeans'. These, however, he bought in a looser style. He well knew the necessity of fluid movement in a fight.

-...-

It happened again, not two days after his little excursion.

He was changing clothes, preparing to find his way to the Library once more, when suddenly he couldn't breathe. Stumbling back against the wall of his apartment, he tried and failed to get a full breath of air.

It wasn't working.

Green flame flickered at his fingertips as Loki ripped away whatever it was that had restricted his breathing.

Gasping, he sank to the carpeted floor and struggled to calm his hyperventilating lungs and beating heart.

It took longer than he expected, but finally he was relaxed again, head tilted back against the wall as he tried to control another bout of irrational fear.

Apparently, a covered throat had joined purple on the list of 'things that set him off'.

What was wrong with him?

-...-

Loki, despite numerous misgivings and clear bias against the realm, enjoyed the Midgardian city he inhabited. There were several libraries, in which one could find stories of all sorts – not just dusty tomes of spellwork and history. Fiction was a wonderful thing, and Loki had much enjoyed the works of one Edgar Allan Poe.

In addition, the constant chaos of humanity appealed to him. Loki was a creature of change. He hated being in one place too long, hated confinement. Asgard had been constricting in it's stagnation. It was old, constant, never changing, and that had always grated. On Midgard, disaster struck constantly, and the humans ran around in a hurried frenzy to get as much done in their short lives as possible.

Loki did not give up his superiority, however, not in the least. Subtle magical influence kept him from having to mix with the unwashed rabble, for conversation or otherwise, and he took great joy in causing a little chaos here and there to disrupt their hectic days. A brick out of place here, a dropped wallet there – it was highly amusing to make one person's day at the expense of another's. He even caused a minor car wreck to help the human 'police' catch a suspect. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Loki was actually enjoying himself.

* * *

 _"Sir, we have a hit."_

 _Tony looked up from his starkpad, designs still projected in the air in-front of him._

 _"Who are we hitting on?" He asked, stretching. It was past three am, and he'd been sitting in the same position most of the night._

 _Tony was pretty sure he wasn't old enough to be aching like he was._

 _"Loki Odinson."_

 _Tony shot upright, leaving the starkpad on the couch beside him. JARVIS obligingly saved the work and turned it off._

 _"Nope! No hitting. I mean, you can hit him all you want, but no like, hitting_ on _him. That's just weird."_

 _"Sir, I wouldn't dream of being unfaithful."_

 _"And that's why I like you, JARVIS. Now what have we got?"_

 _The video was not_ _of good quality_ _, and even with JARVIS's involvement the image was unclear. What happened, however, was obvious. It started out as some sort of tourist blog. A car sped past, and, distracted by the model – a high-end Porsch, Tony noted absently – followed it for a second. It was in that second that the very road shifted up under the car._ _It was slight, barely even noticeable, but t_ _he Porsch_ _jackknifed, skidding into a streetlamp and coming to a screeching ha_ _lt._

 _The video taker was freaking out at the accident caught on camera, but JARVIS had noticed something totally different._

 _Across the street, not in view until the camera moved,_ _was a figure. He was dressed completely different from the last time Tony had seen him, in a pair of dark pants and what looked to be a_ _dark red hoodie, but the slicked back hair and angular cheekbones where unmistakable. The man was watching the car crash with an amused expression. Tony had no doubt he was behind the crash._

 _"Call Fury, trace the phone and try to get street cam footage. We need to keep him in sight, this time."_

 _The phone rang only once, but Tony was already hopping from foot to foot with impatience._

 _"Fury."_

 _"We found him." Tony blurted immediately. He glanced at the screen again, where JARVIS had displayed the location of the video. "In Canada, apparently."_

 _"It's time. Find your partner – make sure each person has several of the syringes on them. We don't know how many mutants there are. Bring them in alive if at all possible."_

* * *

It was the middle of the night when he was woken by… he wasn't sure what. He nearly impaled his third favorite knife in the wall across from him when he heard the voice, but quickly realized what it was.

 _Lukas? Lukas, I don't know if you can hear me or not – you said you would come though, if you could and… I need you. We need you. The hunters, they're here and they've –_

The voice cut off mid-sentence, it's presence in his mind vanishing as if it was never there.

Loki's seidr flared in agitation, both in response to the intrusion and the oath he had sworn. He hastily repaired the broken glass before swiftly changing clothes.

Lillian had called, and Loki's life-debt bound him to answer.

* * *

 _"Didn't you say he was staying here?"_

 _"JARVIS has proof! See, look, J, show the mean man."_

 _"Well, then where is he?"_


	7. Chapter 6

**Hello again, dear readers. Thanks for all the follows and whatnot, those are awesome. And they make me motivated to write.**

 **Wandering Fox: You're a guest so I couldn't respond how I would normally, but thanks for the review! I am most definitely not rushing, but that's mostly because life is extremely hectic right now. I'm curious to see which of the subplots you've noticed.**

 **AND back to the story. Enjoy!**

CHAPTER 6

It took less than five minutes to leave. Loki collected everything he deemed important enough to keep – more than he expected, certainly – and vanished the pile to a small pocket dimension. Despite the wards he had put up around his domain, he didn't feel comfortable leaving his stuff for anyone to find. It would take a bit more seidr than he wanted to use now to retrieve it, and while he was at it he might as well figure out what other pocket dimensions he had but could not yet access – but it was a quick solution. The small living space was pretty bare, after that, and Loki was momentarily surprised at how well he had fitted into the hasty world of the Midgardians. Much more easily than Asgard, certainly, where he had had to claw his way to respect.

It was relatively simple to leave the building and find a serviceable pathway. He was not strong enough yet to use one of the paths that crossed through reality, but Loki could still sense and travel the ones that were already anchored within it. They took longer, and he would have to remain on Midgard the entire time, but it was better than having to tread on the ground. It took some walking before he found one headed in the right direction, but he found it sprouting from the sidewalk a block or so away. Mode of transportation confirmed, Loki rolled his neck and began walking. It was as disconcerting at first as it always was, walking into thin air, but once he spread out his senses Loki could see the faint glow beneath his feet and relaxed. He took a moment to get oriented and be sure of his direction, then Loki took a deep breath and began to run.

The lone drunk slumped against the alley across from him shook his head and went back to sleep, not wanting to deal with hallucinations of crazy people walking into the sky.

* * *

Loki had been running for just over two hours when the path suddenly changed direction. Undeterred, Loki backtracked a few meters and jumped down to another path that was conveniently crossing under the first. The second path was almost at its end, so Loki slowed to a walk, carefully making his way to the ground. Once firmly on land, he shuttered his magical senses once more to conserve energy. There was no seidr around aside from the paths, anyway, and he was close enough to where he needed to be to find the town on his own.

Tall, bushy green trees surrounded him, and he vaguely recognized the forest he had been in after he first met the mutant family. The ground was no longer covered in snow, but was wet and soft. His boots and jeans were splattered with mud as he walked, and although it rankled Loki, he elected to conserve his still recovering seidr instead of putting a shield over his clothing.

He wasn't a pampered royal anyway – a little muck shouldn't bother him.

It was another half hour of walking before Loki made it to the town and the mutant's home. Loki, used to the clutter but overall neatness of his own home, winced when he saw what had become of Lillian and Samuel's home. It was still dark outside, but light spilled out of the open doorway, illuminating the blood streaked across the front porch and the scuffed up dirt in-front of it. The door itself was hanging off its hinges, barely clinging to uprightness. Loki felt a spark of worry deep in his chest, but squashed it immediately. He didn't worry. Why should he? The only reason he was helping these mutants was the life debt he owed their matriarch. He was Loki Silvertongue, and he cared for no one except himself.

The inside of the house wasn't much better than the outside. The small table was cracked in two, and more blood speckled the tile beneath it. There was a pan impaled in the wall, scorch marks over an exploded microwave, and no less than five dead birds littering the floor. Loki swiped one finger through the blood on the floor, sniffed it, and let his seidr begin to work tracking it's signature.

Every life form had a signature, and, once properly trained, it was easier than most other magics to simply follow the trail the signature left behind. It was one reason why blood was so dangerous.

Once it had a good fix on the trail, Loki extended his senses once more and stalked after the trail, silent as a panther on the hunt. The trail was clear, being only a few hours old, and soon Loki found himself on a long, silent highway. He fell into an easy lope, long legs eating up the distance in a way that had been trained into him since his first hunt on Asgard. Several miles later – Loki was unsure how many, because he had long since fallen into the meditative state induced by the repetitive motion of running – the trail veered off the main roads and onto a gravel one. Not five minutes after that, the gravel petered off into dirt. The blood signature led off the road a few feet, from which direction came the acrid smell of decomposing flesh.  
Someone had dumped a body – not one of the mutants – and doused it in some sort of acid. Loki sneered in disgust and turned away, but not before noticing the rather deep looking bite mark – more of a tear than anything – on the man's shoulder. Samuel had definitely done some damage.

Even though he had lost the magical trail, Loki was by no means an unskilled hunter. It was relatively easy to discern the most recent tracks – by foot and by tire – and follow them instead. Now that they were on dirt instead of pavement, and the ground was still wet from the melting snows, the tracks were obvious. Loki followed them further away from the civilized path, across a large field, and through another short stretch of wood. The wood was ripe with traps and sensors, but Loki could feel them if he extended his senses once more and danced through the maze of technology without tripping a single one.

Behind the wood was another field, this one with close cropped grass instead of the knee length stalks of the previous. In the middle of this field, a large gray compound rose from the ground, it's hulking form startling in the rural surroundings. It was surrounded by a tall fence topped with razor wire, and even in the pre dawn darkness bright spotlights swept the grounds around it.

Loki had seen worse, had easily conquered worse – but this time he did not have full access to his seidr.

As he made his way back through the woods and across the previous field, Loki thought up a plan. First, he needed to be certain that the mutants were indeed in that particular place. Then he needed a way in. Since he couldn't sneak in invisible to mortal and technological eyes, as he normally would, and he doubted he knew enough of earth's technology to remain unnoticed within one of their hidden fortresses, Loki would have to go the most dangerous route. It would be easy enough to allow himself to be captured once he broke in, after all, and he highly doubted the mortals would recognize who they were dealing with – especially if he expended the energy to slightly change his face. Because they would not recognize who they were dealing with, it would be child's play to break himself and the mutants out. His higher metabolism would swiftly dull the effects of any drugs that managed to affect him, and their mortal restraints wouldn't be able to stand up to both his strength and his seidr.

Even better, he could finally let some of the simmering anger he had been suppressing out – surely no one would care if he destroyed this place. Explosions happened all the time, according to the news reporters. It was just one measly building after all, nothing like that disaster that had happened in New York.

Loki shook his head, shoving that thought down before it started festering again. He didn't think about New York. It made his head hurt, like he was constantly missing something extremely important.

Plan in place, Loki set about cultivating his 'mutant' personality and collecting materials. It was nearing dawn, so he began his trek to the nearest town. He needed a computer, some explosives, and a whole lot more knives if he was to do this properly. If he was lucky, he could get what he needed within the week.

* * *

The shadow that had quietly slipped over the fence just before dawn didn't pause when the light fell on him. Instead, the light exploded. Everything was bathed in darkness again, and by the time another search light found the intruder the seven guards that had begun converging on the man were dead.

Two more quickly fell with knives blossoming from their chests, and a third seemed to choke on nothing.

 _Mutant_ was shouted through earpieces, and every guard in the entire compound holstered their guns and pulled out darts and syringes. A chance at studying another mutant, according to their commander, was worth much more than their own lives.

The intruder obviously had a temper and an abundance of arrogance, because instead of doing the intelligent thing and retreating when obviously outnumbered, disappeared into the compound.

The guards chased him through the building for an hour, finally cornering him as the sun broached the horizon in a three way intersection. The mutant, although apparently skilled at fighting from afar, couldn't hold his own in hand to hand. Once someone managed to get a needle or three into him, suppressing the green mists that were devastating their forces, he was easily subdued.

No one noticed the softness of some of the walls in places the mutant had passed, or the gasses that began to seep into the building.

* * *

It had been child's play to learn much of the layout of the compound while leading the guards around, but the moment Loki realized how they intended to restrain him, he began to struggle for real.

Never-mind that getting captured was the plan, never-mind that their little drug hadn't even affected him – he had sworn that no one was ever going to collar him again. Not while he was alive, at least.

He didn't dig into the can of worms that was _why_ , seeing as he didn't really remember a prior experience, but he well remembered the last incident where his throat was covered and hadn't intended to repeat it.

Despite his goal of keeping his seidr hidden, underestimated, the renewed fear had it sparking out in retaliation.

A second needle pierced his neck, and he focused on reeling it all back in. He had never let his fears get in the way of a scheme yet, and he wasn't about to now. He knew he could escape it easily, anyway.

The second's distraction was all his captors needed, and the collar snapped around him with an ominous hiss.

Loki's breath hitched immediately, and he had to put most of his concentration into keeping himself from hyperventilating.

Despite his best efforts, his vision kept tunneling, and in his peripheral vision his captor's faces kept flickering from human to gray-scaled alien.

Suddenly, their path changed. A sharp turn to the left, thirty seconds of chaos, and Loki was left alone with the sharp clang of a cell door.

As if that could hold him. Loki sneered at their arrogance, stalking forward, but was brought up short by the restraint about his throat. Almost instantly, he was back to drowning in barely restrained panic. He closed his eyes, trying to stave off the memories, but the darkness only seemed to make it worse.

 _Heat – suffocating, boiling, burning from the inside out._

 _The sharp crack of a whip – close enough to make him flinch, and a herald of things to come._

 _A vice around his throat – only growing tighter as he fought, until even calm he could barely fill his lungs half-way._

 _The sharp tang of blood on his lips, a reminder of his failed attempts at silence._

Something touched Loki's shoulder, and he flinched violently. Whatever it was drew back sharply, and Loki tensed, knowing that whatever followed could only be pain.

It wasn't though.

Surprisingly cold hands gripped either side of his head, chasing away the fire licking at his skin.

"Lukas. Lukas, look at me!"

Loki found himself drawn to the sound, wanting to keep the cold near him. It was still too hot. One of his hands was drawn away from his throat and pinned between someone-else's knees. The hand still on his face pressed into his cheekbone, providing a grounding point Loki could draw himself back too, out of the ever-burning fire.

His world slowly filtered back into focus, and Loki blinked, realizing for the first time who was kneeling in front of him.

Samuel, the mutant vampire.

His pupils were black and his fangs long and sharp, even though it was almost daytime. His skin was pale – much whiter than the last time he had seen the man – and Loki could feel a slight tremor in the abnormally cold hands.

He looked awful.

"Have fun?" Samuel asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Loki asked, still reeling from the memories.

"Never-mind. You good now?"

Loki sneered, unhappy that anyone had seen him while he was weak. He needed to pull himself together, and quickly. It irked him that his breathing was still much quicker than normal, and he pointedly ignored the metal that encircled his throat.

"I am perfectly well, thank you. You, however, don't appear in good health."

"I'm not." Samuel grimaced. "I have to drink to survive, you know, and with the drug I don't even have relief during the day. I haven't been able to since I got here." He shrugged. "I'm basically starving to death, right now, except with different symptoms."

"No talking, Freaks!" The cell door clanged as a passing guard slammed his baton into it. Samuel spun towards the sound and honest-to-goodness hissed. The guard jerked back, startled, but a moment later gathered his courage and stepped closer.

"Don't threaten me, you little blood sucker," The guard growled back. "Or next session is gonna be a lot more painful."

"Oh, it will be, when I rip your throat out." Samuel sneered back.

"Finnegan, don't talk to the subjects," a second voice barked, and a short, plump man strode into view. He wore a long white lab coat, and was scribbling rapidly on a clipboard. "You start to humanize them, and then we'd have to kill you."

The guard gulped. "Yes, sir. I'll ignore them."

"Good." The lab-coat, Dirk, finally glanced up from his clipboard. "It'd be a shame to waste such talent." He nodded decisively once, and, thinking the same thing, both Loki and Samuel stood and backed away from the cell wall. Or at least, Loki stood. Samuel sort of scrambled up and tilted sideways until he managed to stumble into the wall and support himself.

Loki's breath hitched as the movement shifted the collar, but he was in control now, and knew that he could free himself if necessary. He just needed to figure out where Lillian and the others were first.


	8. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait – I've been super busy and had to put all writing on hold for a few weeks.**

 **Again, I am open to any and all critiques. How am I supposed to learn without them?**

 **Finally, I have a question for y'all.**

 **What are your thoughts on having Loki's (mythological) kids enter the story sometime in the future?**

 **Without further ado, enjoy!**

CHAPTER 7

The scientist watched them for several moments, seemingly completely at ease. He wrote a few things on the clipboard, brought out his phone and took a picture, and then walked off, muttering to himself. Although Loki could hear him, he was fairly certain Samuel couldn't, judging by his lack of reaction.

"We'll see how long it takes the boy to crack. They don't know each other well, only met recently, so there will be fewer psychological barriers… I wonder if he becomes more and more feral as he gets desperate? Or will he just keel over? Can we revive him after? Does intravenous work, or must he drink? I'll have to get..."

The voice trailed off as the man got further and further away. When he could hear him no longer, he turned back to his cell mate, who had sunk back down to the floor.

"Before you say anything," Samuel said tiredly, tilting his head back against the wall, "Just know that they are always listening. Everything we say is being listened to, recorded, and analyzed."

Loki nodded, rethinking things. He did not know Samuel well. He had not seen the man in over a month. He could not ask him exactly where his sister was, because that would be suspicious. So either he would have to figure that out himself, or he could sneak the question into the conversation in a way that would be believable.

How he wished the rip in his stores of Seidr would close faster. He knew he was lucky that he had not drained himself so completely that he could not recover, but Loki longed for the days when rescuing someone from a place like this was as simple as cloaking himself and leaving doubles in their place until he was far away.

"You have a sister, right?" Loki asked after a moment, sitting gracefully down near Samuel. Samuel's eyebrows drew together for a moment before his expression cleared and he nodded. _Good,_ Loki thought, _At least I'm not stuck with an idiot_ _._

"Yeah. Two. Remember Aniyah?"

"Small, feisty, nearly stabbed me?"

Samuel laughed, his fangs flashing in the obnoxiously bright cell. Loki suppressed another shudder, but it was getting easier not to react to the unnaturalness of his companion.

"That's her." Samuel nodded, but slowly sobered again. "I hope she's okay. I haven't seen her or Jacob, although we don't know if..." He trailed off, glancing up at the blinking camera in the hallway. Shaking his head slightly, he continued. "I saw Lilly once, when they wanted us too… _motivate_ each-other, but we haven't been able to communicate. There are several other mutants here, though. Most of us seem to be in separate rooms, so we can't talk. I'm not sure why we are together – maybe they are running out of room?"

"They want to see how long you can go without blood before you break and attack me." Loki answered, crossing his legs underneath him. Samuel rubbed his hand up his face an over his hair.

"Of course they do." Then, frowning at himself, the mutant patted his hair back down from where it had spiked up. The two captives fell silent, and Loki wondered at the family Samuel was a part of. He had seen it, certainly, among the poorer in Asgard, but had never felt it from his own family – apart from his Moth – the All-Mother… no, apart from his mother. No one else had ever accepted him unconditionally. Odin, of course, saw him as a tool, and Thor was always trying to change who he was. A royal of Asgard had to fit in a certain mold. An O'harley, it seemed, could be whoever he wanted. Despite only seeing them for a day, Loki had gone over all his interactions with them and liked to think he had a good grasp on their character. Samuel was an eclectic mix of dark and fun-loving. Lillian was compassionate and intelligent. The curiosity of Jacob and Aniyah knew no bounds, and Reuben was athletic and skeptical. Above all, though, they were loyal to their family – a family not related by blood.

It hurt to know that no one on Asgard had cared for such a thing, even when they had thought him Odinson.

* * *

 _"Look, Furious George, I don't know where he went. The cameras show him going into this alley here – which is a dead end, by the way, and didn't come out. The dude can teleport, for goodness sakes! If he isn't here, we'll need to wait for him to pop up again."_

 _"That's not acceptable, Stark."_

 _"Well sucks to be you, doesn't it."_

 _"Widow? Interview the owner of the apartment he was traced back too. See if the man knows anything about him and his motives. You, canvas the area and figure out his pattern. We need to get this under control, asap."_

 _"Yes Sir."_

 _"Sure thing, Mr F.G. sir."_

* * *

Loki wasn't sure how long it had been, but he had long since grown bored of thinking and had fallen into meditation. Manually repairing the rip didn't speed healing up much, and he couldn't do it for very long each day, but every bit helped. He was jerked out of his trance, however, when Samuel roughly shook his shoulder.

Loki's eyes snapped open, and he glared in the mutants direction. Being jerked suddenly out of meditation was never pleasant.

"Sorry, man," Samuel placated, raising his hands slightly, "But you gotta be awake now. Somethings happening. I think they're taking us somewhere."

Indeed, guards were entering the room from both sides. The amount seemed a bit like overkill – if they had truly shut down the mutant's powers there wasn't much to be afraid of – but Loki appreciated the show of force.

It meant they were afraid of him, and Loki _liked_ people being afraid of him.

Especially when it benefited him.

After the room filled with guards, the doctor from earlier came in. His name tag, which had previously read 'Dirk,' now read 'Captain Dirk."

Samuel seemed to think that hilarious, but Loki didn't quite understand why. Had the scientist joined a military?

The scientist frowned at the two, making note of Samuel – slumped in a corner chuckling under his breath – and Loki, who was sitting straight-backed a few feet away. Then he tucked his notepad into a pocket of his white coat and gestured to the guards.

"Well, go ahead! Don't wait for me to hold your hand!"

After what looked like several mental games of rock-paper-scissors – and ingenious game, in Loki's opinion – the four men closest to the cell door were chosen to do the honors.

The first one unlocked the cell with the swipe of what seemed to be a credit card, and then punched several numbers into the key pad. That was good – all an electronic system needed was a quick jolt of electricity and it would fry. It would be easy to escape the cell.

The two bigger men approached Samuel, while the smaller-but-still-big men came up on Loki's other side. Both he and Samuel had climbed to their feet when the door opened, and so it was a simple matter of detaching the collar.

Mindful of his newest role as the lesser threat – they probably thought he was harmless 'without' his powers, and Samuel was clearly not – Loki submitted to their handling with only token resistance.

Samuel snapped at one of his escorts, a sort of vindictive glee in his eyes, and the man gave a very unmanly like yelp and snatched the nearly bitten hand back. The other guard whacked the mutant in the back of the head, and Samuel stumbled into the wall. He was clearly lacking in balance.

Smirking, the guards hauled the pair out of the cell and into the hallway, where they were surrounded by the other three guards. The scientist followed behind, making notes.

They were led through five rooms, each one housing another irritable mutant, before they made it to the part of the compound Loki had explored during his 'capture'. He was pleased to smell traces of the hydrogen sulfur he had left throughout the compound, glad that his expense of seidr had not been wasted. It would be a few more hours before any of the humans noticed, and by that time they would be escaping.

In any case, it would make everyone wary of using projectile weapons, and it would cause a nice explosion once he had left the premises.

It was exciting to cater to his newfound love of explosives.

A few minutes later they were split up. Loki was taken into what seemed to be a laboratory. The collar was removed, and Loki breathed his first full breath in what seemed like , he sent up a silent thanks to whatever deity might be listening.

The restraints they used didn't bother him near as much as the collar did, and apparently the scientist needed access to the pulse at his throat, so it was a win for everyone involved.

* * *

 _"Hello, I'm doing a survey on_ _the attitudes of people living in apartments. Would you be willing to answer a few questions?"_

 _"What kind of questions."_

 _Natasha smiled, blinking up at the owner of the apartment complex Loki had been sighted at the most._

 _"Nothing much. As an owner, you see the best and worst sides of those who rent from you. Can you tell me what sort of people stay here?"_

 _The owner seemed reluctant at first, but it didn't take too long to get him gossiping._

 _"I know I advertise this as a pet friendly place, but seriously? Eight cats?"_

 _"Let me tell you, it is pulling teeth to get Jordan's check each month."_

 _"Did you know one of my renters got hit by a car last month?_

 _It seemed he had something to say about every person. Eventually, though, he mentioned the right person._

 _"Oh, and then there is Tall Dark and Mysterious. A real friendly sort, he is, but you can tell there is something up with him."_

 _Bingo._

 _"What do you mean?" Natasha pushed, careful to keep her tone politely curious as she made 'notes' on her clipboard._

 _"He seems like a guy who got dealt bad hand after bad hand and doesn't want anyone to find out where he's been. The scarred type, who are all the better for their scars but don't want anyone to know. That's the sort of man who draws an old lady's baking skills, and let me tell you, I have never seen so many cookies in my life before Mrs. Wright caught wind of him..."_

 _Natasha quickly wrapped up the conversation and headed back to her ride, wondering why exactly Loki – crazy mass murderer and hopeful overlord – had come to this specific town. She knew everything he did was carefully thought over before hand. He had a plan, and the Avengers needed to figure it out before everything went wrong again. The world would be in deep trouble if a portal full of aliens opened up somewhere that wasn't able to deal with it._

* * *

The first needle they tried to use bent when Loki's seidr instinctively rose to protect him. Loki grimaced, consciously drawing it back in even though it ached to incinerate everyone around him. The scientists twittered to each-other, scribbled all over their papers, and found a bigger needle.

The needle was used to draw blood.

That in of itself was uncomfortable, but the knowledge that the Midgardians had the capability of such a think was a little humbling. In fact, Loki mused as his captors removed the needle and watched in fascination as the tiny hole closed, a lot of Midgardian technology put Asgard's to shame. Watching them put a few drops of his blood on a small glass slide, Loki made a mental note to personally incinerate every vial of blood they had. There were many spells that could be done with someone's blood, the least of which was the tracking spell he had performed earlier.

Sure, the mortals weren't likely to actually _use_ the blood that way, but Loki hadn't survived as long as he had by being careless.

The entire experience was disconcerting, to say the least. The pain – what little of it there was – didn't bother him. It just irked him to be stuck in one place for hours, not able to do anything to alleviate his boredom. He couldn't even meditate or continue his mental reorganization – the poking and prodding of the scientists kept drawing him out.

Eventually, Loki settled on puzzling out the uses of the many machines the Midgardians fiddled with. One of them drew out blood, one painted images of his bones onto black paper, and a third seemed to magnify things to thousands of times their size. The 'microscope,' as it seemed to be called, especially caught his attention. Many, many times in his youth Loki had been frustrated by the inability to discover past ones own limits. Sight could only do so much, and it just didn't feel the same to inspect with magic.

Loki continued inspection his surroundings, tuning out the mindless mutterings around him, until a particular conversation caught his ear.

"Tamara, come look at this blood sample. I bet you've never seen _this_ before."

"No." 'Tamara' leaned over, scrunching up her nose. "That is _so_ sick! D'you think that's how the mutant gene manifests?"

"Lemme see." A third scientist pushed his way to the microscope, looking in for a moment. "Dude," he whispered reverently. "I've gotta have a picture of this." Glancing around, he found some black piece and attached it to the lens of the microscope. Placing his phone on top, he took a picture, and soon the device was being passed around the room. All seven scientists took a peek in the microscope, and the three guards looked rather put out for not being included. Eventually one of the younger scientists took pity on them and passed them the phone.

Loki, by now more than a little curious, glanced at it when it passed in front of him.

At first it didn't make sense. Why would anyone be excited over a bunch of red dots on a pinkish background? When he looked closer, watching over the shoulder of the guard closest to him, he noticed a slight golden film around each circle. Was that what they were chattering about?

Then it dawned on him – that was his blood. That was _his_ blood, seen close up for the first time. Excitement spread through him again, and he made a second mental note to investigate the Midgardian sciences more completely. After that, he payed even more attention to what the scientist were doing.

And if they slipped while carrying breakable things more than was statistically possible, well, who would know?


	9. Chapter 8

**Hooray for the holidays! Time to catch up on sleep, and, you guessed it, writing!  
Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

CHAPTER 8

"So how many mutants do you have here?" Loki asked as he was taken back to his cell, "I've only met one other than me. What kinds are there?"

The guards glanced at each-other, seemingly wondering _why_ exactly the mutant between them was asking such a question. Hadn't he had enough of them?

"A bunch." The leftmost guard said finally, shrugging. "At least thirty, I think. Most of them aren't dangerous mutations, either," He scoffed. "We recently got some twins in the east wing, one of whom seems to talk to birds, but I'm not sure if I believe it. Birds probably aren't smart enough to have decent conversation with, anyway."

 _And there's Aniyah and Jacob._ Loki smirked inside his head. To the guards, he just looked bored.

"Birds are horrible creatures." He nodded, "Especially pigeons."

There was one time he had been eating supper in the park and a bunch of pigeons had mobbed him. Oddly enough, the whole pack dropped dead a few days later, from poison in the birdseed people had been feeding them.

The talkative guard opened his mouth, but he buddy shot him a glance and he scowled, closing it.

"Not like they'll be a problem for you now, eh?" He muttered, remembering who exactly he was talking too.

Loki just snorted, and allowed them to shove him back in the cell. He had some scheming to do.

The gas was nearly potent enough for human smell, now, so he would have to act fast. He knew basically where the twins were, and Samuel would show up eventually, so now he only had to find Reuben and Lillian.

If their captors were smart – and Loki had no doubt they were, for humans – they would keep the dangerous mutants isolated and the ones with passive abilities together. That way they could be safe and conserve space. Thus, it was highly likely Reuben was with Aniyah and Jacob.

Loki wasn't sure where Lillian would be. On one hand, telepaths could be extremely powerful. On the other, Loki had never seen Lillian even act violent. Granted, he did not know her well, and everyone knew that women were most vicious when their families were in danger, so she could have done enough damage the attackers to make them worry. He would have no way to know.

Unless, of course, Samuel figured out where she was.

He could have used his seidr, of course, but he wanted to save it for the actual break out. In addition, there wasn't a reliable way to do it that wouldn't drain his reserves. If they were the only mutants in the building, it would be trivial – but with so many it would be hard to distinguish them from the rabble.

Loki extricated himself from his thoughts when he heard footsteps approaching. Specifically, two heavy treads, one light step, and a stumbler. Loki had no doubt the stumbler was Samuel.

Sure enough, two guards entered the room, shoving a pale and sweaty Samuel between them. Behind the trio followed the same scientist from before, making notes on his clipboard. Loki sat quietly, still playing the meek captive, while Samuel was put back in the cell.

The mutant slumped against the wall, panting.

"So how's your sister holding up?" Loki asked conversationally, idly picking at his fingernails. "Do you know?"

"Meh." Samuel grunted.

Loki turned toward him, eyebrows furrowed. He was unfamiliar with that word.

"Not great, not bad." Samuel clarified. "Meh."

"That is a horrible word," Loki sniffed. His language may have become more common since he ended up in Canada, but he wouldn't stoop that low if his life depended on it.

"Meh."

 _And in that context,_ Loki thought, _it means 'I'm too exhausted to care.'_

Oh well. He would have to teach them proper language skills later.

That particular thought brought him up short. When had he decided there would be a later? His plan had originally been to absolve himself of a portion of his debt and then leave the mutant family to their own devices.

It unnerved him that he was so quickly becoming accepted by them – and that he himself was accepting them.

Loki wasn't positive, but he was fairly certain that he hadn't let anyone get close – except for Mother – since he was a small child.

"She is Close to snapping. One more Wrong thing happening, and things will start exploding. Both Literally and metaphorically."

Easily picking up on the mildly emphasized words, Loki translated the sentence.

 _She's close by, to the left. And I know about the explosive gas._

Samuel would have made an awful minion. He was too smart for the job.

Loki estimated the time of day to be around noon. The best time for breaking out would be around three at night, when the night guards would be regretting their decision to take their shift and the late night workers would be either crashing or too engrossed in work to notice the world around them.

The only problem was that he doubted the hydrogen sulfur he laced the place with would remain undetectable until then. Middle of the day escape, then. Wonderful.

"I want an hour or two of quiet." Loki stated, staring at the cell door. "Then we can talk."

* * *

After an hour was up, Loki subtly flicked a bit of Seidr at the cameras in the room. He was unable to hold a full illusion for as long as he needed too, but he could make them freeze whatever image they were holding.

With the right intent and a decent knowledge of something – _thank you google –_ seidr could do some amazing things with little effort.

Loki rose gracefully to his feet, his hands finding where the collar around his neck had sealed. There was another flash of green and the collar opened. Turning to his mutant cell mate, he repeated the process, then stepped away as Samuel rubbed the red stripe around his neck.

"Ready?" He asked, an almost feral smirk spreading across his face. He couldn't wait to get started.

"Let's blow this joint." Samuel said, but he stumbled even as he stood, crashing into the wall and shitting his eyes tightly.

Loki frowned.

"You aren't going to make it."

"I'll be fine." Samuel protested, rubbing his temples before opening his eyes and straightening, although still leaning heavily on the wall. "It's was just head rush."

Raising his eyebrows, Loki began to turn around, only to dart one hand out and catch Samuel by the arm as the man crumpled mid-step. Acting before he could second guess himself, he pushed Samuel back to the ground and seated himself beside the man.

Pulling his hoodie over his head and setting it to the side, Loki tilted his head away from Samuel.

"Drink." He ordered.

It was the tactical decision. Samuel could be a formidable fighter, Loki suspected. Weak as he was now, the mutant was just a liability. Fortunately, that could be easily remedied. Loki had spilled blood for much worse causes.

"No." Samuel spat, looking away, but Loki could see the way he licked his lips and his nostrils flared. The mutant was craving blood.

"You'll be a liability."

"I don't drink from humans."

"I'm not human," Loki shot back.

"I don't drink from people, then."

"If you do not I doubt you will see your family again."

Samuel turned to face him, black eyes seeming to darken even further.

"Is that a threat?"

Loki snorted, amused despite the situation. How humans clung to their morals, even when doing so meant death. It was illogical.

"You can't even walk, Samuel. It's a prediction."

Samuel exhaled a shaky breath – obviously hating himself for it, but desperate.

"Are you sure?"

"Completely."

Loki started when, not even a second later, two razor sharp fangs pierced his neck. It was an altogether awkward procedure, but he held completely still until Samuel pulled back. Loki glanced at the man, eyebrows raised, as Samuel gave a full body shudder and popped his neck. His paper white skin was already gaining some color.

"Alright. Let's go."

Loki pulled his hoodie back on and silently let himself out of the cell door.

They went left first, Loki in the lead. After two turns and three empty rooms they found Lillian. She was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room, eyes closed and palms on her knees. When they approached she opened her eyes and made some wavy motions at Samuel.

Loki stared at her a moment, wondering if the wavy motions were supposed to mean anything. "She said 'Took you long enough'." Samuel told him. Apparently that was a language all-speak didn't translate. Perhaps because it wasn't _spoken_. Useful.

Loki made a mental note to learn the language.

Unlocking the cell door, he pushed it open and walked in, carefully removing Lillian's collar. He had to restrain himself from breaking the thing in half – every time he touched one it felt more repulsive.

Lillian nodded at him, turning back to her brother and making more hand motions.

"East wing." He responded. "We will need to hurry. I doubt our escape will go unnoticed much longer." As if on cue, the lights in the room dimmed slightly, red lights flashed, and an alarm started blaring. "So stereotypical." Samuel snorted. "Lets go."

They moved quickly, dodging through other hallways, past a few more mutants (who Samuel insisted they set free with the command to 'get far away, things are gonna start blowing up soon') and had made it to the double door labeled 'Non Combatants' when they encountered their first guards.

Still trying to save his seidr, Loki dodged the first shot and slammed into one of them, sweeping him to the ground and cracking his ribs with a knee to the chest. Samuel proved his skill by elbowing the second guard in the throat and taking his gun. One shot to the chest and he was down.

Samuel handed the gun to Lillian, who took it, inspected it, and nodded decisively. Loki was once again appreciative that the people around him were not idiots. The telepath was apparently confident with guns.

The east wing was even more packed than anywhere else they had been. There were three or four mutants to a cell, and not all of them had their skills suppressed. One girl was lying on her back, neon lights swirling idly above her head, while a the cell across the room a small boy with black, cat like ears was in the middle of climbing up the bars at the front of his cell.

"Jacob, Ani, Reuben." Samuel called out, already scanning the cells for his family. Lillian didn't move from the doorway, standing with her back to the wall. Loki could tell she was concentrating hard, probably listening for movement outside the door.

Loki crossed to the other side of the room and put a temporary locking spell on the other door. After all, they didn't want to be surprised.

"Here." Reuben called. "With Jacob. They've taken Aniyah, and she hasn't come back." There was a slight tremor in his voice, and when Samuel crossed to the cell the voice had come from and Loki unlocked it, the young mutant flung himself at his older brother. Samuel caught him, hugging him tightly and whispering something into his ear. Reuben nodded, stepped back, and then turned to his cell mates as Jacob replaced him in Samuel's arms.

"Guys, this is Samuel. And Lukas. Over there is Lillian."

Loki _wanted_ to just grab the rest of Lillian's siblings and leave, but somehow Samuel knew what he was thinking.

"We are mutants, Lukas," He said quietly, "We've been abandoned and betrayed our whole lives. We don't abandon each-other."

Loki knew he was out of his comfort zone, but surely Samuel hadn't known him long enough to tell. Perhaps he was losing his touch?

Sighing, he unlocked the other three cells and the young mutants all piled out, talking excitedly.

"How are we getting out?"

"How did you get in?"

"I've been here so…"

"Ethan, did you..."

"Can we..."

"Why… "

"SHUT UP!" Samuel yelled, and instantly all seventeen mutants quieted and turned to face him. "We are going to get you out." He said in a quieter voice, "but you need to stay calm, protect each-other, and get as far away from here as you can as quickly as you can. Understand?"

"Why specifically as quickly as we can?" One older kid asked, frowning.

"Because this building is going to explode," Loki answered dryly, "And I highly doubt any of you want to get caught in the blast."

All of the younger mutants looked suitably impressed, while the older ones just looked skeptical.

"How are we going to get out?" Someone else called.

"Like this." Loki smirked, carefully directing his seidr to remove a piece of the concrete ceiling and set it to the side. It took a bit more out of him than he was comfortable with, but Loki figured that it would be easier to just let the kids out through the roof than have them getting in the way later.

Now all of the young mutants looked impressed, and Loki felt suitably smug.

Samuel, to his credit, didn't miss a beat.

"I assume you can help each other out?" He asked, and received a chorus of eager assent. Every one of them was eager to be gone.

"Good. Get going, and don't get caught. The guards attentions should be drawn inwards, so you should be relatively safe."

Samuel turned and walked back to Lillian, making more hand motions. She frowned at him, but nodded, and he turned to Reuben who had followed him over.

"You are leaving with everyone else." Samuel started, but Reuben interrupted.

"No! Aniyah is still here! We can't leave without her!"

" _We_ are not. _You_ are. That is final."

"Samuel!"

"Reuben." Samuel's tone was firm, but not angry like Loki had expected. Instead, it was understanding. "I know you want to help her. But I need you to go with Jacob and make sure he is safe."

Reuben glanced over his shoulder at Jacob, who was watching in awe as a tall, thin mutant easily jumped through the hole in the ceiling.

"They tested him." He whispered as he turned back toward Samuel, eyes intently locked on his adopted brother's face. "They said he doesn't… he isn't..." Reuben trailed off, not wanting to continue.

"We will talk about it later." Samuel responded, his tone assuring Reuben that he knew what was going on. "Now go. Help them stay safe."

Reuben nodded, turning and walking back toward the group of mutants. Loki watched him, thinking about what he had heard. Was Jacob not a mutant, like the rest of his family? Loki's thoughts immediately went to the many times he had been belittled because he wasn't like the rest of his family. Surely it wouldn't be the same here?

Samuel had said that he would 'talk about it later,' but Loki couldn't count the times the All-Father had said that same thing to him without following up.

"To the labs?" He asked, turning back to Samuel. The mutant's already black eyes got impossibly darker and he bared his teeth.

"To the labs."

* * *

 **Random question for the masses:**

 **I had a plot bunny for a LOTR/Star Wars crossover.**

 **Is this something y'all would read?**

 **Summary:**

 _ **Ciri Priest expected to die when the Yuuzhan Vong attacked Mandalore. She expected to die when the tunnel collapsed on top of her.**_

 _ **She did not expect to wake up on a completely different planet – nor did she expect the trees to have eyes.**_

 **Mr. Apathic (guest) – I'm glad you thought it was.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Guys, I'm sorry. Life has just been… a mess, and there's no excuse to why I haven't posted since last year.**

 **...I'm hilarious. Promise. Every eighth day of the week, at least.**

 **Enjoy the chapter, and don't be afraid to tell me if there was something you didn't like, or that you loved!**

CHAPTER 9

Loki could feel adrenaline rushing throughout his body, filling him with energy. This was what he enjoyed. Not the bold – if stupid – rushing in Thor would have done, but the thrill of taking down his enemies from the inside. Surprising them in so many ways that they couldn't cope with the fallout, tricking them into destroying themselves – those things made his blood sing.

It was something he had come to accept, living on Midgard. The chaos that permeated almost every facet of the human life was in his blood. Now, with this group of mutants, life was even more of a game, and Loki was excited. Perhaps, for the first time in decades.

They were making their way to the labs, going the long way around the area where the adult mutants had been let loose. Loki could hear pandemonium in that direction, and there was no reason to go near it when they could avoid the guards by going around.

That didn't mean their way had been completely unobstructed. No less than fourteen guards lay in their wake, some dead, some unmoving, and some groaning in pain. Samuel was a force to be reckoned with, for a human, and Lillian was a crack shot. Even better, both of them were adept and being subtle.

Loki made another mental note – he really needed to get a more hands-on familiarity with this world's weapons. It would make mischief making much easier if he could use people's own technology against them.

It seemed to take forever, but finally they found the entrance to the labs. Most of them were empty, but several had scientists inside who were frantically downloading information and packing up equipment. They seemed to think that the smartest option was to salvage what they could and get _far_ away.

It was a good plan, but it didn't work out. They were easily dealt with.

There were a few mutants, too, left in the rush to control the breakout. Those were freed, told what was happening, and left to fend for themselves. Samuel and Lillian wouldn't leave them behind, but they weren't about to stop for anyone until they found Aniyah.

She was in the second to last lab, alive, but what Loki saw when he stepped inside made him pause. Samuel went straight to the girl, carefully freeing her, but Loki ignored him in favor of staring at the black and blue _wings_ that sprouted from her back.

 _WINGS._

Those hadn't been there the last time he had seen her.

"...come on. We need to get out of here as soon as possible." Samuel was saying as he helped Aniyah to her feet. The wings dipped behind her, trailing limply, and Loki realized that she did not have the muscle strength to pick them off of the ground. Not surprising, considering she must have got them recently.

Lillian was already outside the room, looking up and down the hall, and Loki followed her as she headed toward the exit. He could easily smell the gas he had spread throughout the building now, and it wouldn't be long before it would be concentrated enough a stray spark could set it off.

A sly grin spread across his face as they closed it behind themselves, and he extended his senses – searching for the triggers he had left on some of the explosives. Remembering the blood sample, Loki set off the one nearest that particular lab first.

The group was nearing the treeline when the first boom shook the building. Samuel immediately passed Aniyah off to Lillian, who swept the young girl off of her feet. She kept the gun, shifting so Aniyah would be comfortable but she could still use the gun. Either Lillian was deceptively strong, Loki mused, or Aniyah was deceptively light.

His feral grin grew when he heard the second explosion, this one near the entrance of the compound. It was followed up by several others as the gas ignited. Soon, the entire compound was engulfed in flames – some of them tinged slightly green. Loki nearly stumbled as he felt the pull on his reserves of seidr that was the ignition of the other explosives, but he easily gained his footing. Thankfully, it wasn't enough to tear at the hole again.

He stopped in his tracks when Lillian spun on him, shoving him back a step. Her fingers flew, angry, it seemed, but for the life of him he couldn't understand why.

"Why'd you set it off so soon." Samuel interpreted, brows furrowed as he concentrated. She was signing quite fast. "What if not everyone had made it out. You could have killed them."

Loki shrugged.

"We told them what was happening. If they didn't get out, that was their problem."

Lillian grimaced, turning away and pinching the bridge of her nose. Samuel frowned at him, but turned back to his sister, other things on his mind.

"We need to find Reuben and Jacob." Samuel told her, glancing around. "Are you still drugged?" She nodded, and he sighed. "Guess we'll do it the long way, then."

Loki smirked at him, shrugging off his confusion at Lillian's reaction.

"Why would we need to do that?" He closed his eyes, sending out his senses once more. There were many life forms in the vicinity, but only two groups. One flared brighter in his mind, indicating that those were the older mutants. He swiveled towards the younger group. "This way."

He heard Samuel and Lillian following him as he led the way towards the young mutants. Or, more correctly, he heard Lillian. Even with enhanced senses, he could barely hear Samuel's footsteps. It made him paranoid.

It was that paranoia, causing his senses to be on full alert, that allowed him to hear the pounding of footsteps coming towards them. He motioned to Samuel and Lillian, drawing them off the path the steps seemed to be taking, and waited. There were two people. One was a guard, sprinting all out. Following him at a leisurely jog, long legs eating up the distance, was a mutant. His clothing was torn, blood staining the cloth around one shoulder, and his hair was on fire.

That last fact did not seem to faze the man, and as they watched fire licked up one hand as well, lighting up his path.

"I told you you'd regret it!" He called after the fleeing guard, laughing.

Samuel was the first to move after he passed, eager to find the rest of his family. Lillian was right after him, albeit more slowly as she had to watch out for Aniyah's new and no doubt fragile wings.

Loki shook his head, following them. The quirks of each mutant shouldn't be surprising him anymore.

The group of younger mutants had mostly dispersed when they arrived, only a few of the more daring ones staying to watch the fire that was consuming the compound. Loki had encouraged it to burn longer and hotter than it would have normally. It had taken a lot out of him, but if he hadn't the fire would have gone out simply because it would have run out of things to burn.

The resulting inferno was a sight to behold, and Loki was glad that this world had the internet. So many people were going to see the beauty he saw, and many would appreciate it.

* * *

 _There. The report_ _Jarvis had flagged was one that had_ _Loki written all over it. A military base in southern Canada had exploded, just a few minutes ago, and the fire was_ _out of control_ _. Even more damning, the location was only a hundred or so miles from where they had last seen their missing trickster._

 _"Jarvis, send this to Fury. I'm gonna head over there."_

 _Tony Stark turned to the other two people in the room, starting when he saw only one. Thor was already halfway out the door, hammer twirling in his hand. Tony shook his head, turning to Steve. "I suppose I should follow him."_

 _"_ _You do that, Stark. Make sure you both stay out of trouble."_

 _"Sure thing, Spangles!"_

* * *

"Samuel!" Reuben's cry drew all three of the adult's attention, and they made their way to where he was standing, pulling Jacob to his feet. "You found Aniyah? Is she okay? Does she have _wings?_ Since when?"

Jacob was circling Lillian, looking over his sister's new appendages with awe. One hand brushed against a feather, and when the wing twitched he jerked his hand back as if stung.

"Aniyah?" He whispered, trying to see her face.

"She's asleep." Samuel answered. He glanced at Reuben, who had come up beside him. "Does everyone have somewhere to go?"

"Yeah. The ones who don't are going with friends."

"Good." He turned to Lillian, about to ask something else, but Jacob interrupted him. He had finished his inspection of Aniyah and had finally noticed Loki. Now that they were away from the compound, he brought up the one thing that had bothered him since he saw Loki last in the east wing.

"Lukas? How come you aren't blue any more?"

Loki froze, slowly dropping his eyes to meet the curious ones beside him.

"It causes some pretty bad memories." He said slowly, mindful of the eyes of Samuel and Lillian on him. "And I can't live in the human world looking like that."

"I like it. It's pretty." Reuben spoke up, subconsciously shifting his collar. Loki remembered the boy's own green tinged skin.

"Not to me." Loki grimaced. He was about to say something else, to draw the attention away from his _other_ skin, the monstrous side of him, when there was a thump from the direction of the compound. The thump was followed by a roar of " _Loki!"_ and Loki spun towards the sound.

"I have to go." He stammered, and with a sweep of his hand teleported away. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, in hindsight, but he was startled and acted on instinct.

Several miles away, alone on the side of the road, Loki rubbed temples. Thor would ruin everything, like he always did. Now that the mutant family had heard his name, they would make the connection. He wouldn't be welcome again. Loki had forgotten, for a time, that his whole life had been a lie. That it was still a lie. It had been nice. Now, though, an old resentment welled up inside – resentment against Odin All-father, against all of Asgard, against Thor. Thor, who wouldn't stop searching for him, sticking his great nose where he didn't belong, despite the fact that Loki had made it clear he didn't want to be found.

Growling under his breath, Loki incinerated a patch of ground nearby. He needed to get control of himself. Thor wasn't his brother, he had no right to be getting under his skin like this.

Loki looked around, checked his seidr, and with another grumble started trekking toward the nearest place he could disrupt.

* * *

 _Iron Man landed a few minutes after Thor, having flown the entire distance at top speed. He found_ _the god of thunder_ _wandering around the trees that surrounded the burning building, looking like a lost puppy._

 _"What's up, Point Break?" He asked, looking around him. To the naked eye, the forest would have seemed empty, but Jarvis' sensors were not fooled. There were quite a few people in the forest around them._ Probably curious onlookers. _Tony thought sarcastically._ Who wouldn't be attracted by a couple explosions, after all.

 _"_ _I know my brother was here. It is his seidr in the fire, causing it to burn so harshly."_

 _"You can tell?" Tony asked curiously, turning to look at the fire. It looked like normal fire to him –_ _maybe it was a bit hot, and_ _perhaps there was a slight tinge of green, but that could easily be a trick of the sunlight._

 _"The fire is indeed burning hotter than appropriate." Jarvis informed him._

 _"Store the readings, J. I want to look at it later."_

 _"Already done."_

 _"I have known his magic my whole life." Thor explained. "Each persons magic feels different. My mother's was like a brook – cool, calming, and everflowing. Loki's is like the wind in a storm, constantly changing strength and direction. This is definitely him."_

 _"Well that's good to know, but it looks like we missed him again."_

 _"Perhaps, Sir, we should interview the locals. They might know something."_

 _"Good idea, J. Thor, I'm gonna go talk to the spectators. The armor'll stay with you so it doesn't scare anyone off."_

 _"Excellent plan, Man of Iron. I shall wait for your return."_

 _Tony disengaged the armor and stepped out of it, rolling his shoulders before heading off in the direction Jarvis indicated. The first person he ran into was a short blond, but she glared at him and disappeared before he could say anything. He tried a to approach the next group a little more covertly. It was a group of three, one a tall, black haired man who looked a little too pale to be healthy, a dark haired pre-teen, and a dark skinned kid who couldn't have been related to the other two. At least, not by blood._

 _"Excuse me?" Tony asked, and_ _tried to look innocent and unassuming. He didn't think it worked very well, because the man narrowed his eyes in suspicion._

 _"Yes?"_

 _"I was just wondering if you'd be able to tell me what happened hear? See, I'm –"_

 _Tony wasn't sure what he was going to say – usually his mouth said stuff and he went along with it – but he was cut off by the dark-skinned kid._

 _"Tony Stark!"_

 _His name was said in awe with a healthy dose of respect thrown in, and if that didn't make him proud of what he had accomplished he didn't know what would._

 _"Yeah, kid, that's me."_

 _The child turned to the man beside him, tugging on his arm. "Sammy, that's Tony Stark! He knows, like, everything about technology!"_

 _The man, Sammy, looked down, his face relaxing a little. "Don't drool, Jacob, it's unbecoming."_

 _"I am not!" Jacob protested, blushing. He turned back to Tony, bouncing a little on his toes. Out of the corner of his eye, Tony saw the_ _pre-teen_ _roll his eyes. Apparently this excitement was common,_ _and wasn't_ cool _enough._

 _That was a good sign. Tony got along much better with smart children._ _Especially socially inept smart children._

 _"You like science?" he asked, raising his eyebrows._

 _"I love it." Jacob gushed, "Especially chemistry. Engineering is awesome, but I like Chemistry better. Chemical reactions are so cool!"_

 _Tony shrugged. That answered why they were there, anyway. The little scientist wanted to see the fire._

 _"To each his own. One of my best ScienceBro's is a biochemist."_

 _Sammy put a hand on Jacob's shoulder._

 _"What did you want to ask us?"_

 _Tony mentally smacked himself for getting side tracked._

 _"_ _Right_ _._ _See,_ _I was wondering if you saw anything suspicious before the explosions and the fire?"_

 _The man shook his head, frowning in thought._

 _"We were just taking a hike when we heard the explosion. We checked it out, and the fire seemed to be acting oddly, so Jacob wanted to stay and see if he could figure out why."_

 _"You didn't see anyone who might have started it?"_

 _"There was that one guy..." The pre-teen said, and they all turned to look at him._

 _"You saw something?" Sammy asked._

 _"There was this one dude_ _with fire in his hand_ _._ _Scared a bunch of people._ _He could have started it._ _"_

 _Loki. It had to be._

 _"Do you know where he went?"_

 _The kid shrugged. No idea. Ran off that way."_

 _"Thank you. Have a good afternoon."_

 _"Bye Mr. Stark!"_

 _As he walked away, Tony thought over what the three people had said. The oldest, Sammy, was hiding something. What, he didn't know, but he hadn't become an expert at dealing with the media sharks without spotting a lie._ _Tony hadn't mentioned that he was looking for a person, and neither had the man, but he hadn't been truthful about what they were doing in the woods._

 _Oh well. This was Canada. No telling what they were actually in the woods for. At least he could comfortably rule childnapping out._ _Jacob was much too excitable to be knowingly in danger._


	11. Chapter 10

**Well, would you look at this. I'm not dead! Several of you told me to take my time, and I sure did. Apologies for the long wait, but life has been super busy as of late. On the plus side, I recently managed to pass my 3rd degree black belt test!**

 **I'd like to think Star (guest) for catching that error in chapter 3. And yes, I did sort of reference Curious George.**

 **As always, if you have any questions, ideas, or criticisms, please tell me.**

 **On to the show!**

CHAPTER 10

"I don't believe I've ever seen someone pick up shooting so quickly. Are you sure you've never done it before?"

"I did archery when I was a child, but I have never used a gun before."

"You have talent, my friend. It'd be a shame to see you waste it. Come back any time, I'd be glad to shoot with ya."

"I might. My thanks, for the lessons."

"It was my pleasure. Have a good day!"

Loki walked away from the gun range, hands deep in his hoodie pockets. It was hot, here in Arizona, but he didn't want to take the coat off. It was strange enough looking in shop windows and seeing a face that wasn't _quite_ his own, and Loki didn't feel the need to change his new look as well. Jeans and a hoodie was a far cry from what the ' _Avengers'_ had seen him wearing last, anyway.

A flash caught his eye as he walked by one of the local stores, and Loki flicked his fingers. A crash came from inside, along with a few startled cries, and Loki smirked. Another flick caused a can to explode, and the commotion became punctuated by several choice swear words.

 _Isn't there supposed to be a big ditch around here somewhere?_ Loki mused as the 'offender' was booted out onto the street. _I should probably go check it out. Collapse a cliff or two, maybe._ He paused, consulting his mental world map, before spinning on his heel and heading back the other direction. The unfortunate customer from before glared at Loki as he passed. Loki just raised an eyebrow, looking the man's tomato-sauce splattered form up and down.

"Having fun?" He asked, but the man just growled at him. Loki shrugged, continuing on his way. He had better things to do than continue taunting the guy. The man had picked the wrong person to insult earlier that day, and Loki had enjoyed making his life miserable.

Now, though, he had a ditch to get to. Maybe later he'd make his way to Las Vegas, and divest all of the casinos of their cash.

* * *

The Grand Canyon was grand enough, he supposed, but to someone who had traveled realms it was a little disappointing. There weren't even any dangerous creatures inside.

Loki smirked as an idea came to him. Perhaps the floor of the canyon could use a little something to… spice it up.

It was relatively easy to lure a few creatures from Muspelheim through one of the pathways. Most of them were goats, but he managed to snag a small wolf pack as well. The one giant he saw stayed well away from the path. No one noticed the new additions for a day. Then one enterprising poacher decided to shoot at one, and the whole herd of goats got spooked.

Muspelheim goats are normally black, with short, coarse hair, thick skin, and strangely sharp teeth. Fairly normal, right? Except, when they get spooked, they tend to light themselves on fire.

Twenty balls of angry fire stampeded up one of the trails, scaring hikers off the path and setting fire to brush.

Loki watched the show from a cliff high above. He contemplated collapsing a piece of the canyon, as had been his original plan, but then decided that he didn't need to bother. The wolves were biding their time, scouting out their new territory under the cover of darkness. They would start terrorizing the community later, setting fires with their saliva and eating anything they could get their jaws on.

Loki doubted anyone here was equipped to deal with creatures of the fire-world.

"Loki!" The shout came from behind him, and Loki subconsciously checked that his illusions had not failed.

They had not. He closed his eyes momentarily, cursing Odin. It was just like Thor to be there, ruining his fun.

"Loki, stop this at once!"

Thor was closer now, almost next to him, and Loki shoved all of his emotions down deep, locking them in a steel box to be dealt with never. He turned, brows furrowed in polite confusion.

"Are you talking to me?"

Thor was dressed casually, without his characteristic armor, and his favorite mortal was trailing behind him. Apparently, he had interrupted their vacation. Loki suppressed a smirk, his expression remaining politely confused.

"Oh, ah, I'm sorry. It's just… your hair..." Thor fumbled for a moment, not sure how to to correct the situation. Ah, yes. The hair. Another facet of himself Loki had not felt like losing.

"Never-mind." Jane placated, her hand on Thor's arm. "Sorry. You looked like someone he knows, from behind."

Thor nodded adamantly.

"Yes. My apologies for bothering you."

"No problem." Loki shrugged, turning back towards the landscape in front of him. He heard Thor and Jane leaving, Thor muttering 'Loki wouldn't be caught dead looking that casual, anyway" under his breath. When Loki judged them far enough away, his indifferent mask dropped and he sneered at the sight before him. It wasn't as calming as it had been mere minutes ago, and he turned away in disgust.

* * *

 _It took them days to calm and round up the flaming goats – Thor was there to help, of course, but he adamantly refused to let them be put down. Not that bullets worked, anyway. They ended up being shipped off to a zoo for safekeeping._

 _The wolves were a little harder to hunt down. No one realized they were there until one of them was caught on camera weeks later, its dark red fur gleaming in the moonlight and drops of something like napalm dripping from it's fangs. Suddenly, the frequent fires the national park had been struggling with made a lot more sense. Because of their more dangerous nature – no human could get near one without it attacking, and more than one enterprising poacher had lost his life to them – the Avengers were called in. The last of the seven were killed weeks later._

 _A few days after the Avengers left the area, a young girl living in a nearby town happened across a starving puppy. She took it home, unfazed by the_ _flames_ _that sometimes dripped from it's jaws._

 _After all, who wouldn't want_ _a dog that could drool fire?_

* * *

Las Vegas – or, technically, the Strip just outside of the town – was probably the most chaotic city Loki had been to yet. It was beautiful.

People were rushing to and fro at all times of the day – and night – and in every third alley someone was getting high, killed, or mugged. People danced, people sang, people wasted their life's earnings away in a desperate attempt to get rich. Loki could have walked down the streets in full battle regalia and no one would have batted an eye.

On the down side, he didn't think a sane person was on the street. He blew a lot of steam just causing the people that insulted him personally to suffer. After that, it was just trick after trick. Loki won millions in the casinos, and pretty soon he was banned from every single one. Then he turned to the other establishments – setting fires in the worst ones and subtly directing people towards the ones that amused him the most. He handed a stranger a thousand bucks and watched as the man ruined his whole life just spending it.

Eventually, though, even embarrassing the idiots grew boring. There was only so much one could do the same things before they got repetitive, so he collapsed the house of a drug lord and left town.

Maybe Egypt would be a fun place to visit? He could make his own traps, in one of the pyramids tourists went into. He was sure he could do much better than some long dead unenlightened mortals.

* * *

 _"Well, would you look at that."_

 _"Exactly my thoughts, Sir."_

 _"What on earth did Antler Ears do that got him barred from every casino on the strip?"_

* * *

Egypt was… different, to say the least. It was stifling and hot, and the sun beat down unmercifully. Loki seriously contemplated leaving the moment he stepped off of the plane at the airport, simply because the heat made his skin crawl with memories that he couldn't quite recall. In the end, though, he came to the conclusion that it would be Ragnarok before he allowed any country on Midgard to drive him out.

He made his way to the great pyramids first, taking a few tours – both with a guide and without – and then explored other tombs. Some were discovered, and some were not, but he enjoyed setting traps along the way that would baffle even the most imaginative scientist. A few mummies in a museum became animated for a day, scaring the tourists, but ultimately Loki found himself drifting without purpose. There just wasn't anything that could hold his attention. Research helped alleviate the boredom, for a time at least, but three weeks after coming to Egypt Loki found himself sitting in a coffee shop, staring listlessly at his drink.

On Asgard, Loki had rarely been bored. The libraries there were vast, and if he needed to go to another realm for research he had no one to stop him. If he wasn't engrossed in learning, there was plenty of opportunity to stir up trouble with the boring townspeople, and even more in the palace itself. Half of the time, Thor was dragging him off on pointless quests for even more pointless reasons. There were things to learn, here, no matter how much he didn't admit it, but somehow everything seemed… useless.

There was something he needed to be doing – something important, something that would change worlds forever… but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what it was. No matter what he tried, nothing quieted that constant nagging ache in the back of his mind.

Something was going horribly wrong, and no one was prepared for it.

He was sitting there, contemplating the mess that his mind was, when she walked into the room. Loki glanced up as the door opened, and instinctively knew that something was different about this person. She looked like any other average customer _Loki didn't consider himself average, of course_ but he could feel something different about her. It took him an embarrassingly long time to place the feeling – long enough for her to get her drink and sit down in a booth across the room from him – but he finally realized what that tingling wooden feeling reminded him of. _The O'harleys._

The woman must be a mutant.

Instantly curious, Loki sent out a tiny trace of magic. He sipped his now lukewarm drink, letting the feeler dart lightly around the lady before finding itself a secluded spot in her clothing to hide itself. This new breed of human had caught Loki's rather fickle fascination, and he wasn't about to let an opportunity like this go to waste. He would figure out what this woman could do, and maybe learn something of what the mutants wanted in the process.

The man who joined her at the table a few minutes later was also clearly a mutant – the wood texture his magic felt around them was becoming more and more obvious the more he encountered the source.

It was a simple matter to extend his hearing to the other table, blocking out the room in between with ease. Loki had done this same exercise many times to figure out what his- what scheme Thor failing to plan when the oaf was ignoring him.

"...the newest employees are doing wonderfully, but I'm worried about the kid. He seems to be hanging around… the wrong sort."

"Jim and his gang?"

"Unfortunately. I have a feeling we will need to do something to discourage what they are planning."

That was interesting. The mutants were having trouble among themselves. Loki didn't know why he was even a little surprised. Humans were always squabbling over petty things. He took another sip of his coffee, grimaced, and absentmindedly warmed it back up. The action stretched his seidr mildly, but the recently closed tear was healing nicely.

"Have you seen what Seth can do? He is… what, twelve now, and already powerful." The woman continued.

"I wish. I've heard it's quite the spectacular show when he loses control, but I left before he manifested. You know I haven't been back to base yet..."

"You should go visit. I know for a fact that Dirk and Henry miss you."

"Those cretins? I thought they were going to move?"

"It didn't work out. The agent we had finding a place for them… had an accident, and had to go into hiding."

"Is she okay?"

"No one was hurt, but the Skandinavian government is wary, now."

"That's certainly better than it could have turned out."

"Indeed." The woman drained the rest of her drink and stood. "I have a meeting with Marcus soon. Stop by the base, see what's changed. We can talk more about your mission tonight."

"I will. See you soon, Adalyn."

Loki quickly sent another trace of seidr to rest on the shoulder of the man. The mutants parted ways, going opposite directions down the street, and Loki quickly gulped the rest of his own drink down and stood as well. He lingered a bit, buying one of the pastries the coffee shop offered, then set off down the road toward his second trace. He was going to figure out what the mutants were doing, and _why on Midgard_ they were in hiding.

Maybe he could lend a hand. You know, shake things up a little. Spice up the human's lives. Make chaos. It was what he did, after all...


End file.
